'I've always been too blunt. It's one of my greatest faults. My name is Clancy Donahue, Miss Landon. I'd like to talk to you, if I may.' His blue eyes were suddenly twinkling. 'I'll let you search me if it will make you feel any safer. I'm totally without weapons of any sort.'
She doubted that. There was nothing in the least defenseless about Clancy Donahue. His wickedly appealing smile caused her to smile in return. 'I'll trust you. Come in, Mr. Donahue. What can I do for you?' She resumed wiping the cream from her face.
He closed the door and the size of the dressing room seemed to shrink. 'I want your cooperation.'
He came forward to stand before her. 'You've missed a spot. Here, let me.' He took the tissue and carefully wiped the blob of cream from her temple. For someone with such large hands, he was very gentle. It was an intimate gesture performed with surprising matter-of-factness. 'There. That does it.' He tossed the tissue on the vanity. 'I like you better without makeup. Your skin is really quite extraordinary.' He spoke almost abstractedly. 'So white and soft. Like a camellia. I was thinking that while I was watching you sing tonight.'
'You were in the audience?' She couldn't hide her surprise as she glanced at his casual jeans and navy crew- neck sweater. She had known the head-waiter for only a few days, but she was aware that Monty was snobbish and rigid about his precious dress code.
Clancy's lips twisted. 'I have friends in high places.'
'You must.' Lisa wished he'd move away from her. She could feel the heat emanating from his big body even though he was no longer touching her, and she was conscious of the clean scent of soap and an after-shave that smelled vaguely minty. She'd been shockingly aware of the physical presence of the man since he'd walked in the door, and she wasn't sure she liked having her composure disturbed. She had fought too long and too hard to gain that composure. Nodding, she gestured to the chair across the room. 'Won't you sit down?' He moved away at once and she let her breath out in a little rush. How stupid to feel threatened because he was a virile male and she was merely experiencing a very natural sexual chemistry. 'You said something about cooperation?'
He dropped into the chair she'd indicated. 'In my search for Martin Baldwin,' he said bluntly. 'I think you can deliver him to me.' She stiffened. 'You're a policeman?' He shook his head. 'I'm with the Sedikhan Security Service. Your ex-husband and his 'company' have been running guns to a group of terrorists based across the border from Sedikhan in Said Ababa.' His expression hardened. 'I don't like men who make money off of that terror any more than I like the terrorists themselves. I want very much to find Baldwin.'
Lisa moistened her lips. Oh, dear Lord, would it never end? 'Then go find him,' she said quietly. 'It has nothing to do with me.'
'I need you. Baldwin knows I'm looking for him and has gone underground. The only person who can make him come out of hiding is you.'
She lowered her lashes to veil her.eyes. 'We're not married any longer. I have nothing to do with Martin these days.'
'Not willingly, perhaps.' Clancy shrugged. 'But he still wants you. Would you like me to quote a few instances of Baldwin's pathological jealousy? You lost a very good job in Las Vegas because Baldwin made a scene and threatened to cut a customer's throat. That was about a year ago, wasn't it? There have been two other ugly scenes since that I can think of offhand. I have the dossier in my suitcase if you'd like to review it.'
'No,' she said numbly. Of course he would have a dossier on her. All policemen had their damneddossiers. She should know that by now. 'I just want to be left alone. I'm not involved in Martin's activities. I never have been.'
'I know,' he said in a gentle tone. 'But you'll remain involved as long as he's in your life. Give him to me and I'll promise to remove him.' He paused deliberately. 'Permanently.'
Her gaze lifted swiftly to his. She smiled with an effort. 'You sound quite lethal. The last I heard, gun running wasn't a capital offense.'
'Perhaps not in the U.S., but in Sedikhan it's a different situation entirely.' He smiled with a touch of cold ferocity. 'Alex leaves judgments of that nature up to me.'
'Alex?'
'Alex Ben Raschid, the sheikh of Sedikhan. Alex is a very busy man these days. I assure you I have full power to act for him. Is it a deal?'
'You'd kill him?' Lisa whispered.
'Perhaps; I haven't decided as yet. In any event, he won't be around to bother you again. Isn't that what you want?'
She shivered. 'Not that way. I could never be that cold-blooded.'
His lips tightened. 'Baldwin is a hell of a lot more cold-blooded than you could ever dream of being. What kind of man do you think would furnish hand grenades and dynamite to terrorists when he knows damn well they'll be used to blow up schoolbuses and supermarkets? Two children were killed last year in Marasef and several more were injured. I can't touch the terrorists as long as Said Ababa is protecting them, but I can stop their flow of weapons.' He paused. 'I can stop Baldwin.'
'Children were hurt?' She felt suddenly sick. How could Martin do these things? It was unbelievable.
Clancy nodded curtly. 'Will you help me?'
She drew a deep breath. 'I can't.'
'You can. But you won't. Perhaps you're one of those women who get some sort of kinky thrill out of being desired by a bastard like that. Maybe it's a little game the two of you play.'
'A game!' Her brown eyes were blazing. 'Do you think I enjoy having my career slowly destroyed in the most humiliating way possible? That I like being afraid every time I hear a knock on the door that it will be him and the whole sordid mess will start again? You're a very stupid man, Mr. Donahue.'
'Then give him to me,' Clancy said relentlessly. 'Cooperate.'
'I can't, dammit.' She jumped to her feet. 'He was my husband. I had his child. It doesn't matter what he did. I can't be your Judas goat. Not and still live with myself.'
'Child?' Clancy repeated slowly.
She could feel the blood drain from her face. Don't think about it; keep the pain at bay, she silently commanded herself. 'Didn't your neat little reports mention that?' she asked bitterly. 'Perhaps your informants didn't consider the birth of my little boy important. It wasn't exactly a world-shaking event.' Her voice dropped to a husky whisper. 'Except to me.'
'I'm sure it must have been in the report. I must have overlooked it.' Clancy found his hands unconsciously tightening on the arms of the chair.
The idea of her bearing that bastard's child filled him with a totally irrational rage.
'How careless of you.' She wouldn't cry. Oh, God, she had thought all the tears had been shed long ago. Why were her eyes stinging with them now? Firmly she blinked the moisture away and lifted her chin. 'But you can see that I wouldn't be able to do as you ask.'
'You refuse?'
She nodded. 'I'm sorry, but you'll have to catch Martin on your own. You'll get no help from me.'
'I'm sorry too.' A fleeting expression of regret was replaced by a look of fierce determination. 'I wanted your cooperation. I don't like using force unless it's absolutely necessary.'
'Force!' Her eyes widened with disbelief. 'How could you possibly force me?'
'Very painlessly, I hope. Once you realize that I hold all the cards, I think you'll be sensible.' He sat forward. 'Let me tell you exactly what you're going to do. You'll continue to sing here until Baldwin shows up.' His lips twisted. 'And we both know he'll do so eventually. It's obvious that I can't convince you to tip my man when you see him, but you're not to blow our surveillance to Baldwin, either. Once he's spotted, we'll move in and take over.'
She shook her head as if to clear it. 'Didn't you hear me? I won't help you. Not actively nor passively.
If you expect Martin to show up here, then I'll leave. I have only two more nights to this engagement anyway.'
'Wrong,' he said succinctly. 'I didn't bring you here to let you go before you served my purpose.
You're the bait that's going to lure my rat out of the woodwork.'
'You didn't bring…' Understanding suddenly dawned.
