She moistened her lips. “You’d do that to her?”
“You think I’d hold my hand because she’s a woman? No, that’s something Trevor would do. I target anyone who is capable of being a threat. I take it on a case-by-case basis. I always have a few problems with the fairness question when it comes to women. I think it’s ingrained in the genes, and has something do with the preservation of the species. But in my experience, women can be more savage and deadly than men if they’re motivated. Harriet Weber shows the signs of being a very ugly customer and would fight with every weapon she has. If you like, I’ll go after her and get your answers.”
“And torture her?”
“It would probably come down to that. I wouldn’t mind this time.” He was silent. “She hurt you.”
“And I hurt her, too.” The brutal simplicity of his answer shocked her. “I fight my own battles, Caleb.”
“I know. And I also knew that my offer would probably turn you off. I had to take the chance. It could save time.”
Time. How much time did Eve have left? For an instant, Jane was actually tempted. “And if Harriet didn’t talk, we’d have no chance of finding out if she has a connection with Doane. Or she could lie and send us down the wrong path.”
“Not likely.”
“It could happen.”
“Yes, it could happen. If she has mental problems; and judging from her actions and the tone of those letters from Kevin, she might. Then she’d feel anger and not fear, and she’d die before she’d tell the truth.” He added impatiently, “Okay, it could go either way. Forget it. You’re obviously not going to let me run the risk. I just had to put the offer out there. Is Trevor there?”
She glanced at Trevor, sitting in the chair across the hotel room. “Yes, he’s been listening. Do you want to talk to him?”
“No, I’ve said what I wanted to say to him. I just wanted to make sure he hadn’t let you send him away. Trevor has a tendency to try to give you everything you want. I’m sure that makes him even more desirable in your eyes, but you need someone with you right now.” He didn’t wait for her to answer. “I’m hanging up now. I’ll call you when I know something more.” He hung up.
“You heard him,” she said to Trevor. “He seems to have everything under control.” She punched the disconnect on her cell. “And so we’re delegated to sitting here twiddling our thumbs. I hope Caleb is pleased. I hate being here. I’m not going to be able to take it.”
Trevor smiled. “Yes, you will. And Caleb is not pleased though he hopes all we’re doing is thumb twiddling.” He gestured to the bed. “Why don’t you lie down and rest while I call room service and get us something to eat?”
“I don’t want to lie down.” She wearily brushed the hair back from her face. “Do you know, I was thinking about letting him hurt her? What kind of person am I becoming, Trevor?”
“Just an ordinary human under superhuman stress,” Trevor said. “And the choices are few, and all with consequences.”
“I think I would have done it,” she whispered. “If he’d told me that he was absolutely sure that he could get those answers. Eve’s life against the pain of a woman who would condone the death of children. I would have said save Eve. There would have been no real question.”
“Could Caleb really have done what he promised? Are you sure?”
“Eve was sure. She saw it happen. That was why she was uneasy whenever I was with him. But neither Eve nor I have ever known him to hurt anyone who didn’t deserve it.”
“You’re defending him.”
“I’m telling you the truth as I know it. Caleb is an enigma, and I won’t say that I can read him. He bewilders me.” Her lips twisted. “You know me, Trevor. The quintessential realist. I don’t like to admit that there are people who have weird gifts. Yet how the hell can I deny that Caleb appears to be in a class by himself? He can hurt, he can kill, he can even heal. Anything connected with blood flow.”
“Extraordinary. Anything else?”
She shrugged. “A few years ago, I thought that blood flow was capable of affecting the mind, too. Hallucinations. Mind games. But I can’t be sure.” She added impatiently, “I don’t want to talk about Caleb.”
“Neither do I. But it’s always intelligent to gauge the strength of the opposition. He’s beginning to come out of the shadows and make his presence known.”
“He was never in the shadows. He doesn’t pretend. I always know exactly where I am with him.”
“And he offers to give you Harriet’s head on a platter. If you’d said yes, would you have felt a kind of unholy alliance with him?”
“I didn’t say yes.”
“No, but you might still have to say it,” he said soberly. “I’d like to take that burden away, but you wouldn’t thank me for it.”
“No, and I wouldn’t tell Caleb to do something I wouldn’t do myself.” She met his eyes. “Any more than I would ask you.”
“You wouldn’t have to ask.” He smiled. “I think when the time comes, I’ll know. We’re getting closer all the time. Can’t you feel it?”
She did feel it. Just looking at him, she was experiencing a surge of warm intimacy that was banishing the fear and uncertainty. “We’ll never be that close.”
“Don’t be defensive. I’m aware of where this is going. Your own battles and all of that fine rhetoric. Now stop trying to establish something we both realize is firmly in place. I know who you are. I know your mind and body. We were lovers.” He held out his hand to her. “We are lovers. Come over here and let me hold you.”
And how she wanted to go to him.
Trevor had been a part of her life for so long. He had been her first passion. Hell, she had learned passion from him. Did she love him? Sometimes, she had thought she loved him. She admired him and liked him and had desperately wanted to be with him. And it was that desire that had frightened her. She had felt herself being drawn closer and closer, and, if it had continued, she hadn’t known if she would be able to remain her own person. Trevor’s effect on her had always been too powerful.
Standing there looking at him, memories were flowing back to her … She was remembering the first time she’d seen him at the lake cottage when she was only seventeen. Even then, she’d been stunned by his charisma and sheer good looks. Trevor had swept her away and made her dizzy. She remembered the time when she had followed him to the airport in Herculaneum after he had pushed her away and tried to end the growing attraction between them. She had felt rejected and been angry and indignant and wanting to strike out.
“I’m only seventeen.” She had looked him directly in the eye. “No matter what you think, that’s a plus. I’m going to go home and live every minute of every day. I’m going to grow and learn and experience. I’m going to see if I can find a man who makes you look boring in comparison. It shouldn’t be so difficult, and, God knows, I don’t want to have to deal with you and your antiquated sense of what’s proper and not proper. Someday, you’re going to regret turning away from me.”
He nodded. “Oh, I already do.”
And that moment several years later in Scotland, after she had thought that Trevor had been killed. She’d had to fight desperately to keep from panicking.
“I believe I’m getting tired of being irresponsible,” he had said. “Don’t you think we’d make a great match?”
She felt a surge of happiness, followed immediately by wariness. “What are you saying?”
“You know what I’m saying. You’re scared to admit it. Well, I’m way past that point. You’ll have to catch up. How did you feel when you thought I was blown to bits?”
She said slowly, “Terrible. Frightened. Empty.”
“Good. That’s progress.” He took her hand and kissed the palm. “I know I’m rushing. I can’t help it. I’ve got years of experience on you, and I know what I want. You’re having to work your way through this. You don’t know whether you can trust what we have.” He smiled. “And it’s my job to show you that this feeling isn’t ever going to go away. Not for me, and, I hope to God, not for you.”