Amaryllis (9 page)

“Damn it, I don't want you getting involved in this.”

“I already am involved. And I'm the only one who can follow Miss Locking into the restroom.” Amaryllis whirled about and hurried off through the throng.

“Just a damn minute. Come back here. I'm in charge of this fiasco.” Lucas realized that he was talking to himself. Never a good sign.

He swore silently as he watched Amaryllis make her way along the fringes of the crowd.

He had known it would be a mistake to work with a full-spectrum prism. Amaryllis was probably trying to prove how clever she was. Overcompensating for her lack of real talent, no doubt.

Typical prism. Headstrong, difficult, and unpredictable.

Unable to think of anything else to do, Lucas went after her.

Amaryllis's hands were still trembling with reaction. She could not believe what had happened. She was a professional. True, she had only been working as a commercial prism for a few months, but she'd had years of experience in the academic world. She had a wall papered with degrees and certificates.

But she had been totally unprepared for the effects of the link with Lucas. Nothing in her experience had led her to anticipate such a shockingly intimate sensation.

The few seconds of disorientation and the accompanying sense of vulnerability that preceded the actual link had not disturbed her. She was accustomed to that feeling. Every prism experienced a moment of blind, groping awareness. It passed as soon as the psychic link between talent and prism took hold.

The focus link itself was a remarkably uncomplicated, emotionally neutral matter. It was as natural as using one's eyes or ears or taste buds. The only way it differed from any of the other human senses was that it required two minds in order to function in a reliable fashion.

But what she had experienced during those few moments
when she had held the focus with Lucas could definitely not be described as uncomplicated or emotionally neutral. What she had felt was pure, scorching sexual desire.

It was impossible
, Amaryllis thought as she wove a path through the crowded hall. Nothing in the exhaustive research and testing done on the nature of the connection between talents and prisms had ever indicated that a sense of sexual intimacy was involved. She herself had worked with countless talents in and out of the lab. She had never felt anything that could have been described as even mildly arousing.

It seemed to Amaryllis that she could still smell the smoke from the fires of searing desire that had been lit during the link with Lucas. Now that she was free of the psychic connection, the deep longing was receding. But she had an unpleasant suspicion that the aftereffects were going to last for several hours.

It had been a struggle to conceal her reaction from Lucas. She hoped he hadn't noticed just how stunned she had been. At least she had managed to hold the focus in a reasonably professional manner.

Amaryllis took comfort from the knowledge that she had done her job properly, even under such adverse circumstances.

She would think about the problem later, she told herself as she followed Miranda Locking from a discreet distance. There had to be a logical explanation for the phenomenon.

At the moment she had other problems. Her client
wanted
answers. She would try to get them for him. This kind of thing was not in her job description, but Amaryllis believed in going the extra mile, regardless of the task. She knew what it felt like to need answers.

Miranda Locking did not pause at the door of the restroom. She went straight past it, moving swiftly down the hall toward the shadowed regions of an office corridor. Her high-heeled evening shoes made a loud tapping on the hardwood floor.

Surprised, Amaryllis grabbed a fistful of fluttering scarves
and quickened her pace. Miranda's blond hair gleamed briefly in the hallway light, and then she turned a corner and disappeared.

Amaryllis broke into a run. Scarves flying, she rounded the corner.

And collided with Miranda Locking and Merrick Beech.

“What the hell?” Beech, a soft-featured man with a noticeable paunch, grunted heavily. He stumbled back against the wall, lost his balance completely, and sat down hard.

Miranda shrieked as Amaryllis plowed into her. “What do you think you're doing?” She staggered. Her high heels shot out from under her and she fell to the floor. Her large purse flew from her hand.

“Oomph.” Amaryllis landed on top of her in a tangle of wildly fluttering scarves. “Sorry.”

“Get off me, you idiot.” Miranda struggled to a sitting position. “Who are you, anyway?” Her eyes narrowed with sudden suspicion. “Did you follow me?”

“Sort of.” Amaryllis scrambled to her knees.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Miranda's purse lying on the carpet. It had come open. A sheaf of papers had fallen out and scattered across the rug. Amaryllis saw the familiar green and gold Lodestar logo at the top of one of the pages. She could also see the red “Confidential” stamp.

“Damn.” Merrick Beech apparently noticed the papers at the same moment that Amaryllis did. “The bid numbers.” He started to heave himself to his feet.

A large foot sheathed in polished black leather came down on top of the incriminating papers.

“Five hells,” Beech muttered. “Should have known you'd show up sooner or later, Trent.”

Without a word, Lucas bent down to retrieve the papers that had fallen from Miranda's purse. He glanced at them briefly as he straightened.

“How much did you pay her, Beech?” he asked very softly.

“I don't know what you're talking about.” Beech stood and brushed meticulously at his clothing. “Miranda and I
are close friends. We were just having a quiet conversation here when this odd woman interrupted us.”

Amaryllis glared at him as she got to her feet.

“I know who you are, Beech, and I know what you are,” Lucas said. “I'll deal with you later. Get out of my sight.”

Beech bridled. “Don't give me orders. You can't prove I did anything illegal, and even if you could, you wouldn't press charges. We're all adults here. We know the facts of corporate life.”

“I said, I will deal with you later, Beech.”

At that moment Amaryllis could have sworn that she felt a cold wind move through the hall, but the scarves of her gown did not move. She shivered and automatically glanced around to see if there was an open window in the vicinity. She did not see one.

Beech's eyes widened and then narrowed quickly. His face turned an unpleasant shade of red. “You can't intimidate me.”

Lucas just looked at him. He said nothing.

“Bastard,” Beech snarled. “I'll go to the police.”

Amaryllis was outraged. “Really, Mr. Beech, you have no call to act as if you are the offended party here. I think it's obvious to everyone present that you have been involved in some sort of unethical and very probably illegal activity. You should be ashamed of yourself. My personal opinion is that Mr. Trent should prosecute.”

“Oh, shut up,” Beech muttered. “There isn't a damn thing Trent can do to me.”

“What about your own conscience, Mr. Beech?” Amaryllis demanded. “How will you justify your activities to yourself?”

Icy amusement glittered in Lucas's eyes. “Yeah, Beech. What about your conscience? Maybe it needs a little prodding.”

Beech sputtered in helpless fury. “Don't threaten me.”

“I'm not threatening you. I'm going to give you some advice. It's time for a lateral career move, Beech. Get out of New Seattle and stay out.”

“You can't do this to me.” Beech started to edge his way along the corridor wall. “You know you can't.”

Lucas gazed at him thoughtfully. Another whisper of cold wind wafted through the hall. Amaryllis's dress did not flutter, but she realized she had goose bumps on her arms.

Beech's mouth worked. Then, with an inarticulate exclamation, he turned and fled.

Amaryllis exhaled deeply, releasing the breath she had not been aware of holding.

Miranda lifted her chin and stared at Lucas with seething, defiant eyes. “He didn't have to pay for the information, Lucas. I gave it to him for free.”

Lucas studied her with an unreadable expression. “Mind telling me why?”

“You fool. You really don't know, do you? In three long years, you've never once figured it out.”

“Enlighten me.”

Miranda raised her head with fierce pride. “I did it to avenge Jackson.”

“Jackson?” Lucas stared at her.

“He was your partner and you killed him, you murdering bastard. I knew I'd never be able to prove it, so I found another way to get revenge.”

“What are you talking about?”

Miranda shoved a wing of pale hair back out of her eyes. Tears shimmered on her cheeks. “You know damn well what I'm talking about. You wanted to get rid of Jackson because you had no further use for him.”

“Miranda—” Lucas broke off abruptly, as if he had no more words.

“You used him to set up your business contacts here in the city because his family had the connections you needed. Then you got rid of him.”

Shocked, Amaryllis took a step toward Miranda, her hand outstretched. “That's not true. It can't be true.”

“What would you know about it?” Miranda pulled quickly back out of Amaryllis's reach. “You weren't there. Lucas set him up to be killed by those pirates. I know he did. It's the only explanation. There's no other reason why it happened the way it did. No reason why Jackson would have been at that cabin with
her
that day.”

“Miss Locking, listen to me.” Amaryllis took another step closer.

“Don't come near me,” Miranda hissed. “Lucas knew what would happen when he sent Jackson to that abandoned base camp. He sent Jackson into the jungle to die.” She spun around and ran off down the hall. The echo of her footsteps rang in the corridor for a long time.

“Three years.” Lucas eased the Icer to a stop in front of Amaryllis's small house. “She blamed me for Jackson's death for three years. Plotted against me all that time. And I never knew what was going on.”

Amaryllis gave a small start at the sound of his voice. It was the first time Lucas had spoken since the scene with Miranda and Beech in the museum corridor. It was not just the surprise of hearing the heavy silence broken at last that made her flinch. It was the disbelief and pain embedded in the words.

She glanced uneasily at Lucas's grim profile. He sat, one big hand resting on the steering bar, and gazed out into the night. The light from Chelan and Yakima, St. Helens's two moons, etched his face in cold silver and bleak shadows.

“I'm sorry.” Amaryllis decided that this was not the time to mention that she would put his bill in the mail first thing in the morning.

“I trusted her.”

Amaryllis did not know what to say to that. “Don't blame yourself. It's common knowledge that high-class talents are not usually very intuitive.”

“I wanted to do something for her.” Lucas clenched the steering bar so tightly that the moonlight gleamed white on his knuckles. “I knew that Rye's death had hit her hard. The company had an obligation to take care of her. She had been engaged to Jackson. They were due to be married in the spring of that year. Lodestar looks after its own.”

“I understand. These things are difficult.” Amaryllis groped for the door handle.

“She was smart and well educated.” Lucas sounded as if he was unaware that he had a listener in the car with him.
“Good family background. I had no reason not to trust her.”

“Of course, you didn't. How could you have known?”

“I thought we had both gone through all five hells together. That we shared some kind of bond because of what had happened. I never told her that Rye had betrayed us both.”

Amaryllis thought she had heard incorrectly. “Your partner betrayed you?”

“There was no point telling Miranda the whole damn story. She was already hurting. I tried to bury the truth as deep as I could for everyone's sake.”

It was time to end the evening, Amaryllis thought. The assignment was finished. If she had any sense, she would get out of the car and bid Lucas good night. He had his answers. As Clementine had said, it was up to the client to deal with the results of a focus session.

“Would you like to come in for a cup of coff-tea?” she heard herself ask.

He turned his head to look at her. His eyes glittered in the moonlight. She knew that he was somewhere else, sunk deep in his memories.

“Coff-tea?” Lucas repeated blankly.

Amaryllis panicked. Stupid, she thought. Very stupid. Lucas was hurting, but there was nothing she could do for him. “Never mind.” She gave him a quick smile and shoved open the car door. “It's late. I'll be in my office at nine if you have any further questions concerning the results of your security problem. But I think it's been wrapped up. It was obviously a personal situation.”