“I do trust you,” I said softly. “I just want to know for sure…I mean, didn’t it seem like it was possible? He looked so much like you, and what he said—”
“There was a resemblance. That’s probably how he decided he was going to lure me in. I didn’t recognize him, Lacey.”
You didn’t see him in the light, I wanted to say. He looked just like you. He moved just like you.
But no. I wasn’t going to press Jake on this. It was the most sensitive topic, and he didn’t want to talk about it. Fine. He wasn’t interested in considering the possibility that Sean was, in fact, his brother. But I couldn’t stop considering the possibility.
“So we’re not going to the police?” I asked again.
“No,” Jake sighed.
“Even though he’s still out there? Both of them?”
“They were after money, and they got it. I’ll be working to reverse the bank transfer if I can, but that’s it. There’s no reason to go after them.”
“They’re criminals! They kidnapped me and held me for ransom! They—”
“Lacey, the only thing that will happen now if we go to the police is this: every newspaper in town will be at our doorstep, and we’ll both be plastered all over the front page. I can’t have that kind of negative publicity right now. I just can’t. Not with this negotiation halfway done.”
My shoulder slumped. Jake was right. I’d already messed up one day of his negotiations.
“I’ll stay in the hotel for the rest of the day,” I said. “I’m sorry I got sucked into this. I thought I was going to make an art deal with a collector!”
Fresh tears sprung to my eyes. Jake pulled me close.
“Lacey, it’s alright. Don’t worry about it anymore. I’ll make sure that you’re safe from those men.”
“Alright,” I said, hugging him back. I didn’t tell him what I thought—that it was possible, maybe even likely, that Sean was telling the truth. But I couldn’t push him to believe it.
I would have to find out myself. Somehow.
Jake left me in the bathroom and went to call someone. The private investigator, maybe. I stared at myself in the gilt-framed mirror.
Who was that man? Was he really Sean, Jake’s brother? If not, why would he have gone so far to make me believe it?
I shuddered when I thought of how he had touched me while I was painting. How he had guided my hand with his. Worse yet, I had enjoyed it. I’d enjoyed feeling so…
So desired.
It was the money he had desired, though, nothing else. I tried to remind myself. I tried to convince myself with Jake’s words ringing through my head. It had all been a trick. A ruse to lure Jake in, no matter what.
Well, it was a ruse that had worked on me. All of the tiny similarities seemed to come streaming together. Jake had only seen Sean once, in the dim light of the lantern deep down in the catacombs. And he hadn’t moved at all, not really. I was sure that if Jake could see him—
Forget it.
Yes, that’s what I should do. Forget it all. As Jake slipped back into the bathroom, he looked up at me with an expression of acute concern.
“Is everything alright?” I asked, suddenly worried again.
“Everything’s fine,” Jake said, his face twisting up with emotion. “The guards are set at the entrances to the hotel. It’s just that—oh, Lacey!”
He crossed the bathroom in two strides and swept me up in his arms.
“Jake… you’re crushing me!”
His arms squeezed the breath out of my lungs.
“Sorry,” he said. “Sorry. I don’t know what came over me.”
He pulled back, and I saw the gleam of tears in his eyes.
“Jake?” My question was a whisper.
“Lacey,” he said, “I was so scared that I had lost you.”
Before I could say another word, his mouth was on mine.
“Ohh,” I murmured, as his mouth moved down to my neck. “I’m here now, Jake. I’m here with you.”
“And that’s where I’m going to keep you.”
I curled into Jake’s arms. I wanted to press every inch of myself into him, to erase all of the fear of the last twenty-four hours.
Jake turned and looked down at the white marble tub.
“I think we need a bath to take the stress out of the day,” Jake said. “What do you think?”
He reached down and turned the knob. Water poured into the tub, sending billowing clouds of steam up over the white marble.
“I think that sounds marvelous,” I said. I took off one strap of my dress, letting it fall down my shoulder.
Jake’s eyes softened. His shoulders relaxed. I drew my fingers along his cheekbone, tracing the jawline.