For a few minutes after Sophie broke the connection, Mac stared straight in front of her. It was up to her. She was used to that kind of pressure in her lab. She could handle it there.
And she would handle it once she got to Key West. In the meantime, she was going to find something else to think about. An idea bloomed in her mind and she pushed the button on her armrest.
“What can I do for you, Ms. Wainright?”
“First, you can call me Sophie.”
“Only if you agree to call me Jill.”
“Do you ever fly with a copilot?”
Jill’s laugh flowed into the cabin. “Frequently. In fact, when I fly with Mr. Wainright, I usually sit in the copilot’s seat. He prefers to be in charge.”
“A top gun?”
“You got it.”
“Could I come up there with you? I’d love to learn about flying.”
“Sure thing. I’d love the company.”
“WHERE’S SOPHIE?” Lucas bit out the words as he glanced from MacKenzie Lloyd to the pilot of his private jet. Somehow he’d managed to keep his voice low and controlled—a sharp contrast to the feelings coursing through him. The first thing he’d felt when Mac had walked down the short flight of steps from the plane was pleasure. It had sprung to life so quickly that he’d barely had time to recognize it before he’d discovered that his sister was not with her. Then the fear had struck.
“Sophie’s perfectly safe,” Mac said. “She’s at a spa in North Carolina. I…we switched places.”
Lucas shifted his gaze to Jill Roberts who had descended the short flight of steps directly behind Mac. “Are you involved in this deception?”
Mac stepped in front of his pilot. “No. I told her the truth just as we landed. Before that, I was wearing a blond wig, and she believed I was Sophie. Please don’t blame Captain Roberts. Sophie said you’d be fair.”
Ruthlessly shoving his hands into the pockets of his shorts, Lucas narrowed his eyes. It was a look he’d honed to perfection when dealing with employees who’d displeased him. He kept Mac pinned with it while he considered what she’d said.
It would have been easy enough to fool his pilot. She hadn’t worked for Wainright Enterprises that long, and he seldom used his private jet to transport family. He’d done it this time to ensure that Sophie arrived safely. And he was also blaming Mac for something he was almost certain his sister was behind. “I want to talk to Sophie.”
“Of course.” Instead of withering under his glance, Mac efficiently punched numbers into her cell phone, then handed it to him.
He listened to two rings.
“Lucas?”
His sister’s voice had some of his fear fading. “Where in hell are you?”
“Didn’t Mac tell you? I’m on my way to the Serenity Spa in Serenity, North Carolina.”
“Hold on.” Lucas cut her off, then directed his gaze at Mac and his pilot. “You two wait right here. We’re not finished.” Turning, he strode to the privacy and shade offered by a nearby hangar.
“Where exactly is this spa?”
“I told you, Serenity, North Carolina—about an hour’s drive from Charlotte. I’ll be quite safe. The place is run by women for women. No chance of any fortune hunters here—although you might argue the prices they charge puts them in that category. I’ll give you their phone number and their Web site address. You can have one of your security men check it out.”
“I intend to. They can do it in person when they pick you up and bring you here.”
“Not a good idea, bro. I told you before, I won’t have you running my life. You promised you’d back off for a while.”
“And in return you agreed to spend some time with me down here in the Keys.”
“You had me followed. That isn’t backing off. And it’s something I won’t put up with.”
Lucas sighed. “Soph, there’s something I haven’t told you. It’s why I wanted you to come down here for a while. We need to talk.”
“Talk is the last thing I need right now. I’m sorry. I know I agreed to come there, but I…just couldn’t.”
The quick change in her tone from anger to contrition pulled at him.
“I love you, Lucas. And I know that you did what you thought was best for the family. But being with you right now is only going to make me think of how lousy I am at choosing men. I really need to be alone.”
It was the catch in her voice that had the pain shooting through him. He couldn’t help recalling the scene in his office when he’d forced her to look at the evidence Tracker had gathered on Bradley Davis. It would be a long time before he could forget the words she’d hurled at him. They’d hurt much more than the right cross she’d managed to land on his chin. She’d accused him of having ice water in his veins, of being a ruthless dictator, of caring only about Wainright Enterprises.
What else could he expect her to say? He was prepared to go to almost any length to protect the company his grandfather had built and his father had almost destroyed. He stared past the low-slung buildings that formed the small private airport. The air was stifling, not even a hint of a breeze stirred the palms. If Sophie had a built-in homing device that seemed to attract fortune hunters, she’d inherited that gene directly from their father. His last and fifth divorce had come close to destroying Wainright Enterprises.
He’d tried to tell himself that Sophie would have been hurt even more if she’d gone ahead and married Bradley Davis. But that certainty hadn’t helped a bit when she’d broken down and sobbed in his office.
“Please let me do this, Lucas. The spa has excellent security, and you can call the desk each day to check on me. You can even send one of your security people up here—as long as he’s willing to camp in the woods. No males are allowed on the grounds.”
For a moment Lucas said nothing as he ran the risks through his mind. A spa that was off-limits to men sounded secure, especially if he had Tracker assign one of his people to keep an eye on the place. While she was there, Sophie should be safe from any plot that Vincent Falcone might be hatching. Lucas drew in a deep breath. “As long as what you’re telling me about this Serenity Spa is the truth.”
“Check it out. I’m at the Charlotte airport now. Their van will be picking me up any minute. And whatever you do, don’t blame Mac for this. I talked her into it. I can be very persuasive when I set my mind to it.”
Lucas’s lips curved in a smile. “Tell me about it. Don’t worry, I’ll have your friend back in D.C. by mid-afternoon.”
“Oh, I don’t think you should do that. She has a little problem she’s depending on you to help her with, and I assured her that you were the perfect man for the job.”
“What does she want me to do?” Lucas asked, glancing toward his plane. Mac had moved to the shade cast by one of the wings and was motioning his pilot to join her. Shaking her head, Captain Roberts stayed where she was. Evidently his order to stay put hadn’t intimidated the doc. Courage had always appealed to him.
“I’m going to let Mac tell you that. But she may need a little encouragement. And I don’t suppose you were very welcoming when you saw she wasn’t me.”
No, he hadn’t been welcoming, Lucas thought as he studied Dr. MacKenzie Lloyd. Part of that had been due to the fact that for the past four days he hadn’t been able to get her out of his mind.
In the linen slacks and blouse, she looked prim, innocent and untouchable. It had never been those qualities that had drawn him to a woman before. Perhaps it was that detached way she had of summing up her opponent in a tennis match and then calmly going in for the kill. It was a skill she’d probably picked up in her lab work. But wherever she’d come by that single-minded determination, he couldn’t help but admire it. Nor could he help but view it as a challenge.
“I’m depending on you to be fair, Lucas. Don’t blame her for something that’s not her fault.”
Wasn’t that exactly what he’d been doing—blaming her for that quick skip of delight he’d felt when she’d gotten off the plane?
“Mac doesn’t have anyone else to turn to for advice. Her parents always lecture rather than listen.”
“Ouch.” Lucas winced. It was an accusation Sophie had hurled at him more than once.
“Please, Lucas. I’m asking a favor here. At least take her out to the island and hear her out.”
Take her out to the island? Whatever second thoughts he might have had about the wisdom of doing that had to be dismissed. Sophie so rarely asked for favors. “All right. But at least give me a clue. What kind of problem?”
“It’s personal. And she needs help from a man. That’s all I can tell you.”
Personal? Did it have to do with a boyfriend? An ex-lover? The possibility had him frowning. “I’ll do what I can. In the meantime, I’m going to be checking in on you at that spa.”
“I can’t always promise to be available on my cell phone. They make you check them at the desk. But you can always have one of your security people pitch a tent on one of the hillsides and keep tabs on me that way.”