Displeasure flickered in his eyes. 'That disappoints me. I had hoped that your grandmother's name would be carried into the future.”
Raine held her ground. “We can't always get what we want.”
Victor's mouth twitched. “Now that, my dear, is God's own truth.” He offered her his arm. “Come. It won't be long before our guests arrive.”
“Guests?” She lifted her chin, and did not take his proffered arm.
His smile radiated warmth and approval. “I take too much for granted, eh? Since we had not formally established your status as my beloved, long-lost niece, I could not discuss my plans with you. It is a relief, no? To finally be who you are?”
“Yes,” she said, meaning it with all her heart “And your guests?”
“Ah. My guests. It is just a gathering of friends and business associates for dinner. The original idea was to host a simple meeting of my collectors club, for dinner and drinks, and a showing of some recent odd acquisitions of mine. I am a collector of art and antiquities, you see. But once you arrived, the idea of the party became more grandiose.”
“I see “ she murmured, still baffled “But why all this? The dress, the hair. Why do you want me at your dinner party?”
“Isn't it obvious?”
“I'm afraid not”
Victor smiled, and brushed his knuckles across her cheek, a light, glancing touch. “Vanity, I suppose. I'm a childless man. I can't resist the opportunity to present a beautiful, cultured, intriguing young woman to my friends and associates as my niece. Think of it as your debut” She stared at him.
“I know it's foolish,” he said with a shrug. “But I am growing older. One must seize these opportunities while one can.” She swallowed over the lump that was growing in her throat “How long have you known about me?”
Her heart twisted at how similar his smile was to her father's. The high cheekbones, the deep smile lines, the sharp, sculptured cut of his jaw. “I've known where you were since the day your mother took you from this place. I never lost you for so much as a day.”
She could barely breathe. “All that running,” she whispered. “All those fake identities. AH for nothing.”
“Alix always did have a tendency to overdramatize. It was my responsibility to keep an eye on you, as I did not trust Alix to do so. She is ... well, self-absorbed would be a charitable way to put it”
Raine winced at the casual contempt that Victor's tone revealed.
He went on. “I set up red flags in the Lazar Import & Export computer system to alert me if anyone using any of your aliases ever made a move to contact me. Imagine my pleasure when I logged on one morning and saw the automatic message in my inbox. Raine Cameron had sent her resume to my personnel department How fascinating.”
“I suppose you wondered why I didn't just contact you directly,” she said cautiously.
“Lazars tend to be subtle and devious,” he said with a winsome smile. “It's a family trait. Naturally, I assumed that you wished to learn more about the events of that terrible summer when Peter died.”
Her stomach clenched. Victor's smiling face revealed absolutely nothing. “You're not angry?”
He shook his head. “Not at all. It's a tribute to my brother that you care enough to look for the truth. I'm proud that my only niece is courageous and enterprising.”
Her mouth was so dry it was sealed closed. She stared at his smile, probing with all her senses for the trap that had to be hidden beneath his gentle, approving words.
He took a step towards her. “I'm grateful to finally have a chance to say this to you, face-to-face, my dew:. I was out of the country when Peter drowned. I was devastated by his death. He was despondent He should not have been sailing alone. What I regret most of all is the tension that was between us. Much of it due to your mother. Alix liked to stir the pot. No matter what people say, I loved my brother.”
The words vibrated between them, low and impassioned.
Raine's throat began to quiver. She wiped away tears carefully with her fingertips, locked in an inward struggle to cling to the message of her dream, to Bill Haley's words. Her world, not Alix’s, she repeated silently to herself, like a charm against the pull of his charisma.
He gave her a crooked smile. “You are not convinced.”
She did not answer, and he began to laugh. “Honesty is so rare in my life these days. Like a splash of icy water. Refreshing. Well, my dear, whether you believe me or not, can you put your doubts aside long enough to enjoy a pleasant evening with my friends?”
“If you'll excuse me, I need to make a phone call first.”
He gestured towards the phone on the table. “Be my guest”
She paused. This was not a conversation he could overhear.
He smiled at her hesitation. “You wish to call your young man, I take it? To reassure him that you have not been lured into some salacious orgy? I have anticipated you, my dear. I have already invited Mr. Mackey to this gathering.”
His eyes gleamed at her stunned expression. “He jumped at the chance when he heard that you would be a member of the party. He is the jealous, possessive type, no? Think of it You, out here overnight, subject to who knows what depraved appetites. Ah, dreadful. It was sure to drive such a young hotblood into a jealous frenzy. So I told him to come to dinner, to put his mind at ease. I hope I did well. That he will not bother you.”
“Oh, no. Not at all,” she assured him. “I'm very glad he'll be here.”
Her knees were practically rubbery with relief. Seth would be furious when she was introduced to him as Victor's niece, but he would understand once she explained the circumstances. And he was powerful enough to keep her from being sucked under Victor's spell. He would keep her warm, grounded and real. She would be as safe as it was possible to be in this uncanny place, with Seth at her side.
Victor's gaze swept over her, and he nodded in approval. “It will be amusing to see his reaction when he sees you like this.” He made a sweeping gesture at her. “You are breathtaking, my dear.”
She blushed. “Thank you.”
'That reminds me.” He turned to the wall and removed an antique Japanese scroll, revealing a safe beneath. He keyed in a series of numbers, waited, keyed in a second series. The lock clicked open.
He opened it, rummaging through several items, and drew out a flat black velvet box. “Your mother always coveted this, but I would not allow Peter to give it to her. I did not consider her an appropriate custodian.” He placed the box in Rained hands. “Go on. Open it.”
She lifted the lid, and gasped. It was a fire opal, a teardrop shape, set in gold and a brilliant, milky swirl of tiny diamonds. She moved it in the light, old memories stirring inside her. The pearly smooth surface of the opal flashed in the light, pulsing with blue, green and violet fire.
“I remember this necklace,” she whispered.
“You played with it sitting on your grandmother's lap,” Victor told her. “You were her joy. The necklace is called Dreamchaser.”
“I thought there was a tiny rainbow trapped inside the stone,” Raine said, touching it reverently with her fingertip. “A live rainbow.”
“It's a family heirloom. A gift from your great-greatgrandfather to his bride. At last, it comes to you.”
He clasped it around her neck. The chilly gold of the glittering chain made her shiver. The past was reaching out cold fingers to touch her. It called out in soft, whispering voices, like faraway music.
Victor turned her until she was looking at herself in the mirror. The pendant was the perfect length for the peacock gown. It nestled at her cleavage, sumptuous and elegant. Perfect.