Hot Ice(121)

“What the hell was I supposed to do? Run around naked, spit in his eye? Dammit, my life’s on the line. If I have to play the game until I find a way out, then I’ll play. You can call me a coward if you like. But not a whore.” She turned back again, her eyes dark, wet, and angry. “Not a whore, do you understand?”

He felt as though he’d just struck something small and soft and defenseless. He hadn’t been sure he’d find her alive, then when he had, she’d looked so cool, so beautiful. And worse, so in control. But shouldn’t he know her by now?

“I didn’t mean that. I’m sorry.” Edgy, he began to pace. He plucked a rose from a vase and snapped the stem in half. “Christ, I don’t know half of what I’m saying. I’ve been going nuts ever since I walked into the hotel and you were gone. I imagined all kinds of things—and that I was going to be too late to stop any of them.”

He looked dispassionately at the tiny drop of blood on his finger where a thorn had pierced the skin. He had to take a deep breath, and he had to say it quietly. “Dammit, Whitney, I care, I really care about you. I didn’t know what I’d find when I got here.”

She wiped at another tear and sniffed. “You were worried about me?”

“Yeah.” He shrugged, then tossed the mangled rose onto the floor. There was no explaining to her, even to himself, the sick dread, the guilt, the grief he’d lived with during those endless hours. “I didn’t mean to jump all over you like that.”

“Is that an apology?”

“Yes, dammit.” He spun back, his face a study in frustration and fury. “You want me to crawl?”

“Maybe.” She smiled and walked toward him. “Maybe later.”

“Jesus.” His hands weren’t quite steady when they reached for her face, but his mouth was firm, and a little desperate. “I didn’t think I’d ever see you again.”

“I know.” She pressed against him, wild with relief. “Just hold me a minute.”

“After we’re out of here, I’ll hold you as long as you want.” Taking her shoulders, he drew her away. “You’ve got to tell me what happened, and what the setup is here.”

She nodded, then sank down on the edge of the bed. Why were her knees weak now when there was hope? “Remo and that Barns character came.” He saw the quick, nervous swallow and cursed himself again.

“They hurt you?”

“No. You hadn’t been gone very long. I’d just run a bath.”

“Why didn’t they hold you there until I got back?”

Whitney lifted a foot and examined her toes. “Because I told them I’d killed you.”

His face, for a brief instant, was a study of incredulity. “What?”

“Well, it wasn’t difficult to convince them that I was a great deal smarter than you, and that I’d put a bullet in your brain so I could have the treasure to myself. After all, they’d’ve done the same thing to each other at the first opportunity, and I was convincing.”

“Smarter than me?”

“Don’t be offended, darling.”

“They bought it?” Not particularly pleased, he dipped his hands in his pockets. “They believed that a skinny female got the drop on me. I’m a professional.”

“I hated to tarnish your reputation, but it seemed like a good idea at the time.”

“Dimitri bought it too?”

“Apparently. I opted to play the material-minded, heartless woman with an eye on opportunity. I believe he’s quite charmed with me.”

“I’ll bet.”

“I wanted to spit in his eye,” she said so fiercely Doug cocked a brow. “I still want the chance to. I don’t even think he’s human, he just slides from place to place leaving a slimy trail, spouting off his love for the finer things. He wants to hoard the treasure like a little boy hoarding chocolate bars. He wants to open the box, look, fondle, and think of the screams of people as the guillotine falls. He wants to relive the fear, see the blood. It means more to him that way. All the lives he took to get it mean nothing to him.” Her fingers closed over Jacques’s shell. “They mean absolutely nothing to him.”

Doug moved over to kneel in front of her. “We’re going to spit in his eye.” For the first time, he closed his fingers over hers on the shell. “I promise. Do you know where he’s stashed it?”

“The treasure?” A cold smile moved over her face. “Oh yes, he took great pleasure in showing it to me. He’s so damn sure of himself, so sure he’s got me pinned.”