advantage of this opportunity while it lasts. I’ll go down to the basement and mess with the circuits. You two wait here until after I’ve turned the lights off and flipped them back on. Then you go upstairs and do your thing. I’ll give you five minutes and then I’ll turn everything off again. Nick, you dismantle the camera and when you’ve done that, shout down to me, and I’ll turn the lights back on.'
'Got it,' he agreed.
'There’s a flashlight on the hallway chest,' he said. 'So you’ll be able to see what you’re doing.' Joe pushed the chair back and stood. 'Okay, just sit tight until the lights come back on. I’m going to keep flickering them every couple of seconds. I’ll yell when you can go up.'
He hurried around the corner into the back hall and down the basement steps. Nick stood in the doorway, waiting.
'You didn’t drink any of your tea. I figured out why you made it.'
She glanced up at him. 'What’s there to figure out?'
The lights flickered twice, then went completely out. It was suddenly pitch black in the kitchen.
'Don’t get spooked.' His voice was a soothing whisper in the darkness.
'I won’t,' she assured him.
A flash of lightning lit the room for the briefest of seconds, and Laurant half expected to see a face looming in the gray light. She was getting spooked, sitting in that tiny room where he had made himself at home. God, how she wished she could jump in the car and run away. Why oh why had she come back?
Nick’s voice eased her budding panic. 'Making tea is how you cope, isn’t it?'
She turned in his direction and tried to see him in the darkness.
'What did you say?'
'When you get stressed, you stop everything you’re doing and make yourself a cup of hot tea. You did that a couple of times in Kansas City while we were at the rectory. You never drink it though, do you?'
Before she could answer, the lights came back on and Joe shouted, 'Let’s do it.'
Nick took Laurant’s hand and gently pulled her from the chair. He didn’t let go of her as they went through the house and up the stairs. With each step she took toward the bedroom, her heartbeat escalated until it felt like it was slamming against her rib cage. The linen closet door was open, but she couldn’t see the camera.
Nick paused with his hand on the doorknob. 'This has to look real. You understand what I mean? We want to provoke him, remember? That means we’ve got to get hot and heavy in there, and you’ve got to act like you’re enjoying it.'
'You’re going to have to act like you’re enjoying it too,' she pointed out. Lord, she was suddenly so nervous her voice cracked.
'Nah, I’m not going to have any trouble at all. I’ve been wanting to get my hands on you for a long time. Ready?'
'Just try to keep up with me.'
He wanted a seductress, and by God, that’s what he was going to get. She was determined to give the performance of a lifetime. They had the same goal in mind, to make the madman so jealous he would forget caution and come after her. They hoped his fury would drive him to do something careless. It was too late for second thoughts.
'Hey,' Nick whispered. 'Smile.' He grinned as he added, 'Maybe we ought to practice a little first. How long has it been since you’ve been tossed in the hay and mauled.'
'A couple of days,' she lied. 'How about you?'
'Longer than that. Any surprises inside?'
'Like what?'
'Oh, I don’t know. The usual stuff all young ladies keep at their disposal. Chains and whips on the walls. The standard equipment handed down from mother to daughter.'
She kept a straight face. 'What kind of girls have you been hanging out with?'
'Good girls,' he assured her. 'Real good girls.'
Laurant knew that Nick was trying to get her to laugh so she wouldn’t have stage fright.
As she pushed past him, she said, 'Sorry, no surprises inside. Every girl has mirrors on her ceiling, doesn’t she?'
He was laughing when she opened the door. She went in first flipped on the lights, and headed for the bed.
It turned out to be easier than she’d expected. She simply pretended she was modeling again. In her mind, the bed was the end of the runway, and it was her job to get there using every part of her body. She moved with easy grace, her hips swaying to the music she could hear in her mind, a pouty look on her face.
Nick watched from the doorway, stunned by the swift change in Laurant. She tossed her long thick curls provocatively over her shoulder as she glanced back at him with a sultry come-and-get-me look. When she reached the foot of the double bed, she turned and beckoned him forward with the crook of her finger. He had to remind himself that it was all an act. If eyes could smolder with passion, hers could burn down the house.
He walked toward his temptress, but she wasn’t quite finished shocking the hell out of him. As he reached for her, she shook her head, took a step back away from him and then slowly began to unbutton her blouse. She never took her gaze off him, staring directly into his eyes, waiting, teasing, beckoning.
He let her unbutton the blouse, but when she started to take it off and he saw the hint of her lacy bra and the soft swell of her breasts, he roughly pulled her into his arms, acting impatient and eager now. His hand moved to the back of her neck. He wound her hair around his fist as his other hand pressed against her spine, bringing her up close against him. Tilting her head back, he leaned down and kissed her long and hard.
The touch was electric. Her mouth was so soft, pliable, willing-damn, could she kiss. Her lips parted without prodding, and it was then that Nick gave in to his curiosity and desire. His tongue thrust inside to taste the sweet interior of her mouth. She stiffened in response, but only for a second or two, and then her arms found their way around his neck, and she was pressing against him, clinging to him as she matched his fervor.
The kiss went on forever. His mind knew it was all a performance for the camera, but his body didn’t care about that distinction. He reacted like any other man would in the arms of a beautiful woman.
He dragged his mouth away from hers and began to nibble on her earlobe. 'Slow down,' he whispered, panting.
'No,' she whispered back. Then she tugged on his hair, pulling his head back so that she could kiss him on the mouth again. When her tongue touched his, he growled low in his throat.
She smiled with smug satisfaction against his lips and then kissed him passionately again, thoroughly getting into the role of aggressor now, but Nick wasn’t going to let her outdo him. He unsnapped her jeans and his hands moved to her spine and slipped inside the fabric. Cupping her backside, he jerked her up against his hard arousal. Shocked, her eyes opened, and she tried to pull back. He wouldn’t let her. His mouth took absolute possession, and within seconds her eyes were closed again, and she was pressing against his hard, warm chest. Pelvis to pelvis, the fit perfect, she rubbed against him. The way he stroked and caressed her with his hands and his tongue made her forget that she was supposed to be acting. She gripped his shoulders to keep from collapsing and kissed him back with honest longing.
From the darkened living room across town, the Peeping Tom watched. His roar of rage echoed through the house. Shaking, he picked up a lamp, ripped it from the socket, and hurled it at the stucco wall.
Retribution was at hand.
Chapter 21
She had trouble looking Nick in the eye the following morning. As soon as the lights had gone out the night before, Nick had abruptly pulled away from her and had gone into the hallway to dismantle the camera. She was thankful for the darkness then because she knew she looked dazed and disoriented. She had trouble getting her legs to work. She’d wanted to hide in the bathroom until she regained her wits, but that had been out of the question. She fell back on the bed instead and stayed there until her heartbeat slowed down and she could draw a proper breath.
