Butterflies began to flutter in her belly. “Yes,” she said slowly. “Why?”
“There's an item in that collection that I want to track. I don't want to steal anything. I just want to gather information.”
Things clicked quietly into place, and she acknowledged with her conscious mind what she had sensed from the beginning. “It's just like I thought,” she said softly. “You're not here to upgrade Lazar's inventory system, are you, Seth? You've had your own agenda all along.”
His face was expressionless. He didn't try to hold her when she slid off his lap and backed away. “Do you want my help or not, Raine?”
She hated the cold, implacable tone in his voice, but she was lost, and he was the only path she could see. “Yes,” she whispered.
“What I want from you is simple. I want you to plant a tracking device on one of the items in Victor's collection. The transmitter is tiny, about the size of a grain of rice. No big deal.”
She plucked the stole off the floor and wrapped it around herself, shivering. “Why can't you just sneak in and plant it yourself?”
His lips twitched. “I'm good, but I'm not that good. That vault is a steel-reinforced concrete armored room with ultrasonic Doppler and passive infrared motion detectors, just for starters. I could probably pull it off, but not without a lot of planning. And I'm on a tight schedule.”
She gulped. “A tight schedule for what?”
“Are you up to it?”
She wobbled on her spike heels, and steadied herself against the table. “You want me to... plant a tracking device,” she repeated softly. “But why? What's the item that you want to track?”
“Is that a yes?”
She sank down on the bench opposite him and crumpled a handful of peacock blue taffeta anxiously in both hands. “I don't know if I could pull a thing like that off,” she told him, with utter sincerity. “I'm not very slick or devious, and I'm not a very good liar.”
“You're learning, babe. You're learning every day.”
His words stung, but when she looked into his face, she saw no mockery or irony at all. He looked somber and watchful.
It occurred to her that if she were to say no, she could find herself in more serious trouble than she had ever imagined. Raine forced herself to examine that ugly possibility. She pushed the thought away.
She might be fooling herself, but her deepest instincts told her that Seth would never hurt her. At least not intentionally. And if this was the devil's bargain that fate saw fit to offer her, fine. She would take it, and be grateful. She took a deep breath. “OK. Ill do it.”
He nodded. “Good. Listen carefully, because we're not going over this again after we leave the boat It's a Walther PPK pistol. It might be in a carrying case, it might be in a plastic bag, in which case it'll be harder to plant the transmitter. Improvise if you can. If you can't, you can't. Don't take stupid risks. If it's not smooth and simple, let it go.” “What's special about this pistol?” “It's the murder weapon in the Corazon case.” Her mouth dropped open. “But—oh, no. Oh God. What is Victor doing with a thing like that?”
A grim smile curved Seth's mouth. “That, sweetheart, is a question that a whole lot of people would love to have the answer to. I'm not one of them, though.”
“No?”
He shook his head. “I don't give a shit how he got it or why he wanted it. All I want is to know where it goes from here. Not one word of this once we're off this boat, Raine. It's like we never mentioned it.”
“I understand,” she said. “Why do you want to track this thing?”
“Don't worry about it, babe “
She bristled like an offended cat, “Pd rather you snap at me than condescend to me.”
“Fine. Ill bear that in mind the next time you ask for information that's completely irrelevant and useless to you.”
“You don't trust me at all, do you, Seth?” she challenged him. “You know all my secrets, but you won't give one inch with your own.”
His eyes glittered at her, implacable. “Live with it. You want to take Victor down? Then do as I say, and don't ask questions. Because you need help, sweetheart. You are a walking disaster on your own.”
Her face reddened, and she tore her gaze away, stung. She wanted so badly for him to trust her, and it was a stupid, useless, hopeless wish. She huddled into her stole. “Now what?”
His eyes slid down her body, lingering on her breasts. “Victor invited me to this party to entertain you.” He grabbed her wrists and tugged her gentry to her feet. “I want to fulfill my function.”
She sighed. “Seth, are you capable of thinking about anything besides sex for more than thirty seconds at a time?”
“I used to be,” he said ruefully. He sank to his knees and lifted the billowing skirt. The rough, call used places on his palms snagged and caught at her delicate hose as he swept his warm hands up her thighs. “My concentration skills used to be unbelievable. You trashed them, Raine. So make use of what's left of me. You might as well.”
She threaded all of her fingers into the thick, silky brush of his hair, quivering as he put his hand between her legs. He stroked her lace-shielded mound in a feather-light, teasing touch.
“Let's seal our bargain right here,” he suggested. “You won't be cold when I'm done with you. You'll be hotter than hell. All that fancy makeup will melt off, and your hair will fall down, and you won't even remember what happened to your underwear.”
She stared into his eyes, resisting the dark magic of his voice. In this cold, manipulative mood, she sensed that he wouldn't yield his self-control to her for a second. He probably wouldn't even bother to take off his clothes. She would be the naked one who ended up in a trembling, sobbing heap. She wanted him, but on her own terms. She had to change this unbalanced power dynamic. For his sake and hers.
“Not here,” she said, in a cool, sharp voice.
His fingers stopped in their probing caress. “Why not?”
“I don't want it like this. On the floor, or standing up. I like my comforts,” she said haughtily.
His eyes narrowed. “Excuse me, princess.”
She clutched the stole around herself, shivering. “Don't call me that unless you mean it,” she snapped. “My room up in the tower has a kingsize four-poster bed. Hand-embroidered linens, cashmere blankets and a white lace coverlet.”
He grunted. “Cool. Guys like me go nuts for white lace coverlets.”
He reached around for the leather jacket that was hanging on a hook, and she took the opportunity to scoop the broken pendant swiftly into her hand. She kept it hidden when he turned back, careful not to threaten the fragile new equilibrium between them. He draped the jacket over her shoulders and wrapped his arms around her. She huddled against him, scrabbling until she found an inside pocket.
She slipped it into the pocket and pulled the zipper shut.
No matter what Victor might or might not be guilty of, that fiery opal was her only link to her grandmother. She'd be damned if she would throw it away just to placate Seth. This was the opening move in her grand campaign to stop being pushed around. By everyone.
Chapter 17
The walk back up to the house was utterly silent He clasped her shoulders, his mind racing with the effort to justify his crazy impulse. It was an incredible gamble, but irresistible. The symmetry of it felt so right; that this chance should present itself to him just in time, and by Victor's own flesh and blood. Poetic. His instincts screamed to seize the moment, get on with it, so he could find out once and for all if there was something on the other side or not. And he wasn't misleading Raine by promising to help, either. If he got his revenge, by definition she would have hers, too. The desired end result for both of them was the same. He could close this thing, and she could finally be safe.
