Dark And Dangerous (20 page)

 
He may have done it to prove something to
her, but he was the one who would have to suffer through a meeting while he was
hot and bothered. The thought of that made her smile. She'd bet he hadn't
thought of that.

 
It made her gloat just a little as she pushed
away from the door and got ready to paint. Usually it only took her about a
minute to get back into the right frame of mind. But this time she struggled.
Pictures of Nathan kept appearing before her.

 
Damn it, she thought. This was exactly what
he had wanted. Annoyed, she shoved the images out of her mind and picked up her
favorite paint brush. She began dabbing paint on the canvas.

 
She had to use all of her will to keep her
focus and concentration on the painting she was creating. She nearly succeeded,
or at least she told herself she did, but images kept haunting her, blocking
out her vision.

 
Frustrated she shook her head and tried
again. It really wasn't like her to struggle with painting, but it seemed to
her that since this whole mess had begun, she hadn't done anything else.

 
But no matter how hard she tried to ignore
the images, she couldn't. They overwhelmed her, the first images of Nathan
replaced by darker ones of Joe and Miss Kans.

She tried for nearly an
hour, but she just couldn't erase them from her mind.

 
Finally she decided it was useless to
continue. Putting down the brush, she walked restlessly back and forth in the
office.

 
She needed air, she thought. Just needed to
get out for a moment and clear her mind. That might be the answer, Kayley
decided. She could take a walk on the resort grounds and maybe locate a few
more spots she wanted to paint.

Either way she had always
enjoyed getting in touch with what she was painting. Getting it under her skin,
Miss
Kans
had called it.

 
Opening the door, she walked into the hallway
and smiled politely at David. She swiped the security card for the elevator
Nathan had given her and pushed the button.

 
"Can I help you with anything?"

Surprised she turned
around to look at David.

 
"No, thank you."

 
"If there's something you want, I can
get it for you," he offered.

 
"I don't need anything, but thank
you," she said politely and was just about to step into the elevator.

 
"I'm sorry. I don't mean to snoop, but
where are you going?"

 
"I, ah
…
" Suspicious she looked at him. "Why
do you ask?"

"I
…
" He gestured at her and smiled
disarmingly. "I must apologize. Nathan asked me to keep an eye on you, and
keep you out of trouble."

 
"What?" she asked outraged.
"Who does he think he is?"

 
"I'm sure he didn't mean it as an
offense."

 
"What is wrong with him? Treating me
like I'm a child."

 
"I'm sure that has nothing to do with
it. He simply seemed concerned." David did his best to hide his smile.

 
"And how does he expect me to get into
trouble when I'm painting?"

 
"I'm not sure."

 
"Are you laughing at me?" she
asked, her eyes narrowed.

 
"No, of course not. I just need to know
where you're going so I can reassure Nathan if he comes out."

 
"You're going to
—
" Too outraged to even speak, she gasped
at him.

 
"You don't want me to get fired because
of you, do you?" he asked smiling kindly at her.

He knew very well that
Nathan wouldn't fire him, but at the moment it seemed like the quickest way to
get her to cooperate.

 
"I'm going for a walk on the resort
grounds," she said through clenched teeth. "And if Nathan comes out
you can also tell him that he can go to hell." With that she stepped into
the elevator and took a couple of deep calming breaths as she pushed the button
and the doors slid closed.

Chapter 22

 
The man
had some nerve, Kayley thought outraged and stalked past a group of hotel
guests who were busy lounging in the shade of a covered patio. How dare he
treat her like she was a child?

 
An imbecile child who didn't know what was
best for herself and couldn't do anything without getting herself into trouble.

Overbearing male.

 
It seemed to be an epidemic, she thought,
thinking of David and Damian as well. Maybe they were just born that way. Born
thinking they knew all the answers and were God's gift to humanity in general
and women in particular.

 
Idiots.

 
She stomped across the ground, barely
noticing the stark beauty of the landscape. Nor did she register the people who
took one look at her face and wisely decided to get out of her way.

 
She reached the edge of the cliffs and simply
stood for a moment, reveling in the fierce strength of waves beating against
the coast. The water wasn't wild and roaring today, but the waves still sent
water in cascading splashes in all directions as it connected with land. Kayley
breathed in deeply, letting the salt air cool her hot temper for several
minutes, until some of the guests interrupted her solitude.

 
Only slightly annoyed by the disturbance, she
followed a small path that followed the cliff a few feet from its edge. It was
a gorgeous day, she thought, enjoying the warmth of the
suns
rays pouring over the land while the voices slowly disappeared in the
background.

 
It was so picturesque, with the green
covering the ground on both sides of the path, interlaced with blooming
wildflowers.

It soothed her deeply.

nnShe
had never been so temperamental before as she
had been since the break-in at her cottage, she thought. She had always
considered herself even tempered and perhaps even a bit cold.

 
She really didn't know what had gotten into
her lately. Of course she had been under a lot of pressure, but then she had
grown up under pressure and that had never made her moody.

Kayley stopped again to
look out over the water as she contemplated.

 
It occurred to her that her temper only
appeared to ignite when it had something to do with Nathan. She felt an
uncomfortable clench in her stomach at that thought.

It probably had nothing to
do with him, she reassured herself.

 
Surely it didn't mean anything that her heart
took a stumble whenever he so much as looked at her.

It couldn't, she thought
with a panicked flutter in her stomach.

It didn't, she told
herself sternly.

 
Out of the corner of one eye she noticed
something move, and turned to look at it. Hotel guests, was her first thought
when she saw two men walking down the path from the resort towards her.

 
But something about them made her instantly
weary.

She couldn't put her
finger on what it was. They were walking, seemingly relaxed, intently studying
the ground.

 
Kayley's heart began to beat faster as
warning chills ran down her spine. Slowly, as if she didn't feel alerted by
them, she left the path she was on and walked through the grass, shrubs and
wildflowers, pretending to study them. Her direction took her away from the two
men and directly towards the resort.

 
Her heart leapt with fear as the two men left
the path, walking through the shrubbery with a direction that meant they would
intercept her in a matter of feet.

 
For a moment she simply froze.

 
She knew she would have to get back to the
resort. Back to the safety of other people.

But they were cutting off
her escape. Blocking off her way to the resort.

 
Lifting her head, she watched them walk
calmly towards her. She hoped her instincts were mistaken. After all they
weren't rushing after her, like you would expect.

 
But then one of them looked up and met her
eyes. He smiled, a horrible sadistic smile, and she knew she hadn't been
mistaken. His intent to hurt her shone clearly in his eyes. Kayley knew she had
to act fast. Instinct had her turning and running as fast as she could towards
the edge of the cliff.

 
She heard them run after her. Heard their
feet pound against the ground behind her. Kayley didn't hesitate for a moment,
but simply jumped over the cliff edge and landed on one of the jumbled boulders
that made up the side of the cliff.

She scrambled, nearly
losing her footing and jumped further down onto another boulder before she had
the chance to regain her balance. She had to slide down the rough surface and
scraped her hands, without realizing it, on the rocks. Casting a hurried glance
over her shoulder, she saw to her relief that they were having trouble even
getting down to the first boulder. They might be much bigger and stronger than
her, but they lacked her agility.

 
She scrambled on, not even noticing when the
waves beat against the rocks below her, splashing her with water. Kayley nearly
slipped on the rocks and threw out a hand, grabbing the edge of a jagged
boulder.

 
Picking her way quick and careful along the
rocks, she heard them swear behind her as they struggled.

 
"Give it up," one of them yelled at
her. "You're never going to make it."

The other man slipped and
nearly took a dive into the water, before he managed to catch himself on a
small ledge, ripping his hand on the sharp surface. Blood welled as he swore.

 
"That's it," he yelled after her.

A shot ripped through the
air and stone exploded a few feet from her, making her flinch.

She looked back to see the
other man grab the gun from the man that had shot after her.

 
"We won't get anything out of her if
she's dead." He tucked the gun into his own belt and she spotted another
gun already tucked in the other side.

 
Fear made her scale the side of the cliff at
double speed. It was more effective than elegant as she wiggled her way up over
the ledge and onto the grass. Kayley had barely rolled onto level land before
she was back on her feet again and running. She spurted across the ground,
taking the quickest way back to the resort, through the wildflowers.

She knew she had to get as
big of a head start as possible. The resort was barely visible in the distance,
hidden by pine trees. At the moment it seemed impossibly far away.

 
Much too far away for her to be able to make
it.

Shoving those thoughts out
of her mind, she ran through the pine trees, barely registering as their
branches whipped against her. She heard the men yell behind her and knew they
must have made it back up the side of the cliff. It wouldn't take them long to
begin to gain on her. She had never been much of a runner, and the two men
appeared to be in very good shape.

 
Kayley sprinted through the trees and felt
relief pour through her when she spotted a group of people, in the distance,
out enjoying the day. Her heart pounded in her chest and she had to fight back
a scream of protest that clawed at her throat when she watched them turn and
walk in the other direction. She knew they would never be able to hear her.

 
Panic closed its cold fist around her. She
could hear the men gaining on her, their feet pounding against the ground and
she still couldn't see the resort. Her hope began to crumble and she nearly
stumbled, her foot catching on a log of wood. In the last instant she regained
her footing, and ran through another grouping of trees. Her knees almost
buckled beneath her as she came out of the trees and saw the resort in front of
her. Without hesitation, she ran towards a large open glass-door in the side of
the building. Bursting through the doorway, she realized she was in the art
wing.

 
And she was alone. The room was empty.

For a moment she froze
again, hearing the pounding of feet on stone outside and realized she didn't
have time to escape.

Her last chance was to
hide. She threw herself down behind a large display of carved wooden figures,
and crouched behind it in the last minute. She heard the footsteps as they came
running into the room and then stopped dead.

Her heart beat so loud,
she was sure they must be able to hear.

 
"Where did she go?" she heard one
of the men ask.

 
"Bitch. She must be here
somewhere," the other man said.

Kayley felt panic claw at
her, and had to bite her lip to keep from screaming when she heard a pair of
footsteps come slowly towards her.

 
"Maybe she didn't come in here,"
the first man suggested. "She could have continued past the door."

 
"No, I saw her run in here."

 
"Could be she was quick and ran through
that door," she heard the first man say, and prayed to God that they would
believe that and hurry out after her.

 
"I don't think so. Not enough
time."

 
"Well, I
ain't
seeing her," the first man said, sounding testy. "Maybe you just saw
wrong."

 
"I know what I saw," the second man
stated in a tone that allowed no argument. "I know she's in here. Start
searching the room and stop bitching."

 
Kayley's heart turned over in her chest and
panic squeezed her stomach as footsteps came closer to where she was hiding.