Deceit (18 page)

Clay threw up his arms. “How do I know where she is? All I know is I’ve got to get this shoot underway. And if she’s not professional enough to show up, there are others who can replace her.” Richard had never liked Clay, and if he hadn’t felt every moment was important, he would have decked him. He started to leave, but felt something stopping him. He turned back to Clay. “There’s just one more thing. Have you gotten back the analysis of the face powder?”

“Not yet. I probably should follow up to make sure my friend received it. The mail is so unreliable.” He turned to Sara and Steve. “In the meantime, people, we’ve got to get underway.”

Ignoring Clay, Steve gazed at Richard. “I’ll help you look for her.”

“I will too,” Sara said.

Richard shook his head. “Thanks, but I’ll find her. ”

Wind whistled through the iron structure of the gazebo, emphasizing its emptiness. Richard slammed his hand against a wrought iron support. Dammit! Where was Liana?

Anxiously, he stared out at the night. Fortunately, the sky had cleared and he wasn’t having trouble seeing, but the air was cool, and the grass had been damp beneath his feet as he had walked. Was she cold, he wondered. Was she hurt?

His mind refused to take that next awful step of imagination and wonder if she were dead. She
had
to be all right.

L
ord, Liana, where are you?

Outside of her hotel room, they had been so few places together. Where would she go? Or, God forbid, where would someone take her? His jaw tightened at the thought. Confidence aside, he would give himself only a short time to find her, and then he would contact the police.

He could hear the music being played in the ballroom. “Embraceable You.” He had never noticed before, but it was really a lovely song. If Liana were here, he thought, he would take her in his arms and dance with her. They had never danced, but he knew she would be light, graceful, exquisite to hold. They would dance as long as they both wanted. Then they would make love.

The afternoon he had found her here, he had taken her down to the cushioned bench, kissed her, touched her. That had been his first indication of how much he had still loved her, only he had been too blind to see it then and too proud to admit that love even if he had seen it.

Liana had been right this afternoon. He
was
a fool. If he had acknowledged even a particle of his love, he might have her with him now.

He remembered the puzzled looks Rosalyn and Steve had given him at the confident way he had said he would find Liana. They might wonder where his certainty came from, he thought grimly, but he knew he had no alternative. He
had
to find Liana. He couldn’t live the rest of his life without her.

Chilled to the bone, her head dully aching, Liana sat on the inner steps of the crypt. She hugged herself for comfort and warmth, unable to remember how it felt not to be cold or have her head hurt.

She also didn’t know how long she had been staring at the long, boxy shape of Leonora’s coffin just a short distance away.

From the first, she’d been affected by the tragic story of the young Leonora. Her interest hadn’t made sense then, nor did it now, but her heart still went out to the woman. Her happiness had been cut so short, and now there was no one left alive who mourned her. Except her, Liana thought. And now she was sharing her burial place.

She touched the dried blood caked at her temple. During the long hours she had been there, she had fought against the pain and the cold, but most of all she had fought against the fear. She supposed under the circumstances it would be natural for her to believe that she was fated to die here. Actually, though, this experience had made Liana want happiness all the more.

The Leonora she had known in Paris had told her that one day she would find true love. Well, she had already found it. She had been foolish enough to let go of that love once, but never again.

She refused to die there. She had too much living to do yet, too much loving. She formed an image in her mind of Richard and concentrated on it with everything that was in her. He was her heart, her life. He would come for her.

A long time later, she heard movement outside.

Just for a moment, she had to fight back the terror that the person who had put her in there had come back. But almost as soon as the terror came, it vanished. Somehow she knew it was Richard.

“Liana? Are you in there?”

She scrambled to her feet, almost losing her balance again in her eagerness to get to the doors. “Richard?”

“Liana? Dear God, you
are
in there! Are you all right?”

“Yes, yes, I’m fine.”

“Hang on, honey, I’ll have you out in just a minute.”

There was the sound of the concrete urn being pulled away, then the doors were opened, and Richard stepped inside and swept her into his arms. He crushed her to him, trembling with relief and happiness that he was finally holding her again.

Her skin felt cold, but she was alive and breathing. He felt as if he had just been delivered from a lifetime sentence in hell. He buried his face in her hair and breathed in her scent. He didn’t want to let her go, not now, not ever, but finally, supporting her with his hands on her arms, he pulled back and looked down at her. “Are you really all right?”

“I think so,” she said, unable to prevent her voice from shaking.

"What happened? Who put you in here?”

“I don’t know who. They stunned me by hitting me in the back of the head, then they dragged me in here. I guess water from the rain we had earlier had seeped beneath the doors. When I tried to get up, I slipped down the stairs and hit my head on the floor. I’m not sure how long I was out. What time is it?”

He glanced at the luminescent dial of his watch. “One-thirty in the morning. Lord, Liana, you’ve been trapped in the crypt all this time?” At her nod, he swung her up into his arms and held her close. “Let’s get out of here.”

“I can’t think of anything I’d like more,” she murmured. But as he turned with her, she glanced over his shoulder, unable to resist the compulsion to have one more look at the eternal resting place of Leonora Deverell, the place that could so easily have become her own tomb.

Moonlight illuminated the inside of the crypt with an eerie silver light, enabling her to see that the entire end panel of the coffin had fallen to the ground and opened the interior of the coffin to view.

Her breath caught in her throat.

Richard carried Liana clutched closely to his heart and entered SwanSea by the front doors. Because the ball was still going on, he wasn’t surprised to see that the entry hall was empty except for a small staff at the desk tucked discreetly off to the side. But he was surprised to see Jean-Paul and Clay come into the hall through a side door, talking heatedly.

“Dammit,” Clay was saying, "you gave this assignment to me, now let me do it.”

Pale, but determined, Jean-Paul towered over Clay. “As soon as you answer some of my questions.”

 “I don’t have time for this. Sara, Rosalyn, and Steve are back in the ballroom waiting for me.”

 “And where is Liana?”

“How the hell should I know?”

Richard glanced down at Liana. Her eyes were closed, her dark lashes lay against the almost colorless skin of her cheeks. When he found the person who had done this to her ... He looked back at the two men. “Here she is.” Clay and Jean-Paul both jerked around toward them. Jean-Paul’s expression was of utter relief. Clay’s expression, very briefly, was of anger.

Jean-Paul rushed toward them. “Mon Dieu, you have found her! Liana, what happened to you? Are you all right?”

She opened her eyes. “You look awful, Jean-Paul. You should be in bed.”

“Bah! I have been there all day. I couldn’t stand the wait one more moment, so I came down to see what I could do.”

Richard’s mouth quirked with faint amusement. “You didn’t trust me to tell you I had found her, did you?” he asked, still keeping an eye on Clay who had slowly crossed the distance to them.

Jean-Paul’s dark brows rose. “And would you have told me?”

“Eventually. ” Richard smiled briefly before turning his attention to Clay. “How is your shoot going?”

“Fine.” Clay cast a disgruntled glance at Jean-Paul. “Or at least it was.”

“You knew, didn’t you?” Richard’s suddenly quiet voice carried such murderous intent, each word was like a knife thrown.

Jean-Paul stilled.

“Knew what?” Clay asked warily.

“Knew where Liana was—because you put her there, didn’t you?”

Liana stiffened, and he tightened his arms around her, trying to reassure her. “I’ll take you to your room in just a minute,” he whispered.

“I had my suspicions,” Jean-Paul said, his expression stricken, “but I didn’t want to accuse without proof.”

“I’m sure you also didn’t want to believe that your protege could do something like this.” 

“Why?” Liana whispered. “Why, Clay?”

“I didn’t want to hurt you,” Clay said, his words coming out in a rush, “but I needed for Sara to be the model here. No matter how brilliant my pictures of you would be, Liana, I could never gain fame by photographing you. You would photograph beautifully in the dark, and everyone in the business knows it. But Sara was an unknown—”

 “Did she know what you were doing?” Jean-Paul asked, interrupting, plainly over feeling bad that Clay could have done such a thing. He was angry now, and it showed in the coldness of his black eyes.

“No. She’s always been reluctant to let me take pictures of her, but I knew she couldn’t refuse if I put her in the position of saving the assignment.”

 “Did you rig the light to fall?”

“Yes, yes,” he said, his impatient tone implying they were asking all the wrong questions. What was important here was his work. “And I added a caustic ingredient to the powder. I just wanted you out of commission for the rest of the shoot, Liana. I didn’t want to seriously hurt you.”

 Richard was having a hard time keeping the rage he felt under control, and because he was, he spoke softly. “What about the nails and boards on the road?”

“No. The only other thing I did was tamper with the ladder. I had the second ladder so that Sara would be sure to take the one whose rung I had broken. You couldn’t even tell that I had broken the rung, then glued it back together, could you?” His eyes shone with excitement as he turned back to Jean-Paul. “I want you to see the work I’ve done tonight, Jean-Paul. I think you’ll agree it’s extraordinary. I knew that out of everyone, you would be the one to understand. Nothing is more important to you than your work.”

“You
damned
fool.”

Liana shut her eyes and turned her face into Richard’s chest. He was torn. He wanted to rip Clay limb from limb, but Liana was his first consideration. She had been through more than enough already.

“I’ll take care of it," Jean-Paul said.

Even though it seemed Jean-Paul sensed some of what he was feeling, Richard’s old prejudices automatically reared, making him hesitate. But the woman in his arms and the love he had for her forced him to look at Savion without the blinders of his jealousy, and what he saw reassured him. Savion had a toughness, a fortitude, and a gritty type of integrity that transcended the physical strain he was under. Richard finally nodded, accepting that Savion would do whatever was necessary. He loved Liana, too.

But she was going to be
his
wife.

He carried her to the elevator.

Eleven

Liana awoke to a sun-filled room, the softness of the four poster bed, and Richard, lying beside her, gazing at her.

With a gentle smile, she reached out to stroke the stubble of his morning beard. “How long have you been watching me?”

“Most of the night. I didn’t want anything more to happen to you.” He took her fingers and kissed each tip. “When I think of what you must have gone through ...”

“It’s over, Richard. Besides, I knew you would find me.”

He smiled. “Did you? I don't know where your confidence came from, but somehow I felt I would find you, too. I
had
to find you.”

Her face shadowed. “Clay ...”

“I’ve already spoken with Savion this morning. Clay was taken away last night. What happens to him will depend on the courts and maybe even the doctors. But like you said, it’s over. It’s time for us to go on.”

She searched his eyes, saw the warmth and tenderness, and remembered the hope she had felt yesterday evening before Clay had closed her In the crypt. “There are some things I’d like to say to you.."

“No, let me go first. Looking back on that day in Paris when you left, I realize now I should have gone after you. I don’t usually let anything get in the way of what I want. But with you, I couldn’t think rationally. If I had, I would have realized that what we had together those two weeks was the real thing and you had to have had another reason. But instead of trying to find out that reason, or even trying to change your mind, I set my pride and ego above my happiness and fooled myself into believing I would be fine without you. But Lord was I wrong! I loved you then, Liana, and I love you now.” His voice broke. “With all my heart, with all my soul. ”

She had had hope, but hearing the actualization of her dream stunned her. “You do?”

“If you weren’t hurt, I would show you how much.”

“I’m fine,” she whispered, sliding her arms around his neck. “Show me. ’’

Regretfully, he shook his head. “You’ve been hurt. ”

“Your love is the best medicine I could possibly have.”

He groaned. For her sake, he shouldn’t let her seduce him like this, but he was helpless in the face of his love and his need for her. After the terror and uncertainty of last night, when he hadn’t known where she was or in what condition he would find her, he
needed
to make love to her. It would be a celebration of life and of their future. But . . .

“I love you, Richard,” she murmured, unknowingly ending his hesitation.

He kissed her gently, touched her softly. He gathered up all the tenderness, love, and passion of which he was capable and poured it over her. He felt her tremble and trembled with her. When her skin heated, his did too. When she moaned, he followed with one of his own.