Night and Day (6 page)

“Tired of this hospital and flowers and wanting to get back in control of my life.” His eyes were still narrowed on her. “How are you? Any news of Cara?”

“Not yet. We think she's on her way to Moscow.” She paused. “But I
will
hear from Natalie. She as much as told me that she wanted to strike a bargain for Cira's gold.”

“Really? A little premature, isn't she? We haven't found it yet.”

“She believes we will. She thinks it's her destiny to have it.”

“She's wrong. It's my destiny, Eve.” He smiled. “My ancestor. My family. My gold.”

“I know that, MacDuff. That's why I'm here,” she said wearily. “I need your help. I'm not asking you to do anything that would jeopardize your opportunity to find and keep that chest of coins. I just want you to play the game for a little while.”

“And that involves?”

“Continuing to search for Cira's gold, perhaps pretending to find it.” She hesitated. “If you do find it, be willing to offer to trade it for Cara. Offer, not actually go through with it.”

He was silent. “If Natalie is as clever as you think, that might be a risk. I could lose what I've been searching for since I was a boy.”

“You won't lose it. Joe and I won't let you. That would be more dangerous for Cara.”

He nodded. “I can see that.” He suddenly smiled. “But perhaps Jock and I could improvise a little. It would be far more satisfactory to let her have it, then take it back. It would soothe my broken bones and damaged pride.”

“You may not have Jock. That's another thing I wanted to discuss. He's leaving for Moscow, and I'm trying to keep him from getting himself and Cara killed before we put plans in motion. He's promised to give me a little time, but I don't know how long that will turn out to be.”

“I don't either,” MacDuff said soberly. “The child means something to him. Jock has a great heart, but he's very guarded these days. Cara managed to slip under his defenses.”

She had slipped under all their defenses, Eve thought. Full of wistfulness and warmth and music, Cara had quietly moved in and become part of them. At first, she and Joe had thought they were only being kind and helping her. She wasn't sure at what point she had realized that kindness had become love.

“You, too?” MacDuff said, his gaze on her face. “Then we'd better do something about it, hadn't we?” He straightened in the bed. “And I can't do anything in this damn hospital. Is Jock still here?”

“Yes, not for long.”

“It will be long enough. Send him in, and I'll tell him to get me out of here.”

“The hospital staff may not listen to him. You're an influential man, and they won't want to take chances.”

“Jock will take care of it.” He added wryly, “In case you haven't noticed, Jock is a combination of sheer charisma and lethal determination. If one doesn't work, the other will. I'll be out of here in a few hours.”

“And then what?”

“I keep Jock with me for as long as possible. It won't be very long. I'll tell him I need him to take me back to Gaelkar before he takes off.”

“Gaelkar?”

“Where else would I go? I have a treasure to find.” He smiled. “But you'll have to give me Jane to help me.”

“You know Jane will make up her own mind.”

“Oh, well, I'll handle it.” He made a shooing motion. “I'm beginning to feel as if I can handle anything. Ah, control, it's a magical thing. Go get Jock.”

She turned to leave.

“I'll make sure Jock checks in with me occasionally, Eve,” he said quietly. “And sometimes he listens to me.”

“I know he does. Thank you, MacDuff.”

“You're welcome, Eve. Now go get some rest so you'll be ready when you hear the game is about to start.”

Arrogant, mocking, controlling. He was all of those things. But no one was a stronger, more intelligent ally than MacDuff.

If she wasn't so tired, she'd be feeling both grateful and hopeful.

But she was that tired, almost numb, and she could only nod and leave the hospital room.

Jock was out in the hall, and she was glad she didn't have to go down to the waiting room to get him.

“He wants to see you.”

He frowned. “Is he okay?”

“Fine. Quintessential MacDuff.” She walked away from him and down the hall. She was having trouble putting one foot in front of the other.

Exhaustion.

Lethargy.

Normal after what she'd been through last night and today.

And was this dizziness normal, too?

She stopped short in the hall before she reached the elevator.

Not good.

None of this was good, and she wouldn't make it worse by trying to tough it out.

She turned and started toward the nurse's station.

Breathe deep, one step in front of the other.

She reached the desk.

The young, red-haired nurse looked up inquiringly. “Yes?”

“I'm not feeling well. Exhaustion. A little disoriented.” She handed the woman her phone. “Would you please dial Jane MacGuire and ask her to come and pick me up? Tell her not to panic. Not to call Joe. It's not serious.”

The nurse frowned. “Certainly. Why don't you sit down on that bench over there while you wait for her? I'll be with you as soon as I finish. Perhaps we should take you down to ER and have them look you over.”

“Not what I have in mind.” She sank down on the bench and leaned her head back against the wall. “Does this hospital have OB GYN offices on the premises?”

“Yes, several. In the south wing. You're pregnant?”

“Oh, yes.” She closed her eyes. The dizziness was increasing. “About six weeks. Though I could barely tell it until today. But I believe my child is complaining of bad treatment in the only way it has of getting through to me. Could you call one of those doctors and get me down there as soon as you can?”

*   *   *

“What's wrong? What are you doing here?” Jane demanded as she strode into the examining room of Dr. Gil Rampfel an hour and a half later. “That nurse scared me to death.” She crossed to the table where Eve was lying and took her hand. “Did you lose the baby?”

“No.” Eve smiled. “I told you not to panic. I'm just being careful. I didn't like the fact that I was so exhausted today. You know I'm usually as strong as a horse.”

“You don't usually go through a physically and emotionally draining twenty-four hours that would have taken down a SEAL,” she said curtly. “And I have a right to panic. You don't call for help, Eve. You're too damn independent. I don't remember a time when you called me and asked—It's usually the other way around.”

Eve shook her head. “I don't have the right to be independent right now. Because it might be the baby who is calling for help. I told Joe that when I was pregnant with Bonnie, I felt stronger than ever in my life, that I could lift mountains. I feel like that with this child, too. But today I had the strange feeling that I was being told that I have to obey the limits, that we have to work through this together. The two of us.” She squeezed Jane's hand. “So I called my best friend to come and escort us back to camp. I'm sure that the baby approves of my choice.”

“Not Joe?”

“Joe is busy trying to save Cara.” She shrugged. “And you know how he would have reacted if I'd had the nurse call him with that message.”

“Chaos. Possibly a nervous breakdown.”

“Something like that. I have to be careful about stressing him out. He'd want to put me on bed rest. This child will be our child, but right now it's mine.”

“Bed rest?” She stiffened. “Was that a possibility? What did this Dr. Rampfel tell you?”

“After extensive tests, he said that I'm extremely healthy, that the baby appears to be doing well.” She paused. “After renewing my prenatal vitamins, he told me that I'd obviously overdone it, and I'm not to do it again. Eight hours' sleep every night. Eat a healthy diet. Don't worry about anything.”

Jane shook her head. “Good advice. Wrong time.”

“I'll do what I can.” She smiled. “And I'll discuss it with the baby and explain that I might need a little help now and then. And that I'm sure Cara will be worth it in the long run.”

“That goes without saying.” Jane smiled back at her. “The two of us,” she repeated Eve's words. “It sounds as if you've actually formed a partnership.”

“Oh, we have.” She sat up and swung her legs to the floor. “And right now I'm not at all sure who is the dominant partner. But I'm sure I'm going to find out soon. This child is changing, growing, becoming…” She shook her head. “I don't know. Is it that I don't remember when Bonnie was in the womb? I thought I remembered everything about her. All the wonder, all the love. But I didn't remember this … excitement. It's … different.”

“Every child is different,” Jane said as she helped Eve to her feet. “Or so I've been told. I guess we'll find out. So what's next?”

“We get out of here. I'll call Joe when we get back to camp and see what he's learned. Then I force myself to take a nap as commanded by all and sundry.”

“Sounds like a plan.” She headed for the door. “Stay here while I check you out of here with the receptionist.”

“I'll go with you.” She held up her hand. “I'm fine now. All I've done for the past couple hours is to lie here and be poked and prodded.”

“Not exactly relaxing,” Jane said dryly.

“It felt that way. Maybe because I had a little help from my friend.” She touched her abdomen. “I saw his heartbeat, Jane. It was … awesome.”

Jane gazed at her luminous expression, and said gently, “I imagine it was, Eve. Well, I'm glad that you're feeling better, whatever the reason. When you left the camp earlier, you were pretty ragged.”

She nodded. “I was depressed, and it was hard to see where we were going and what we were going to do. I was just trying to do what I could to keep the damage to a minimum.”

“And that's changed?”

“It's changed.” She headed for the door. “Somewhere along the way, I picked up something called hope.”

“A gift from your silent partner?”

“How would I know? Maybe. Yeah, I think so. That's what babies are all about, aren't they?” She opened the door. “Hope.”

 

CHAPTER

3

MOSCOW

Cara could see the immense stone house surrounded by high, wrought-iron fences in the distance as they came down the hill. It looked like a mansion or a castle but not like the ones she'd seen in Scotland.

“It's beautiful, isn't it?” Natalie glanced at her. “I grew up here. Aren't you lucky that you'll be living here for a while?”

“It's very nice,” Cara said politely. She didn't look at her, but the strong vanilla scent of Natalie's perfume surrounded her in the closeness of the backseat. Her mother had changed clothes at the airport before the driver of the Rolls Royce sent by her father had picked them up. She was wearing a cream-colored silk dress and bronze high heels, and Cara knew with part of her mind that she was beautiful. But for some reason, she couldn't accept that beauty as fact. There was something wrong, like a fine piece of music with half the notes missing.

Yes, that was it. Something in her mother was terribly missing.

“It's more than nice,” Natalie said. “What's wrong with you? It's a finer house than the one I lived in with your father in Mexico City. You lived there, too, when you were younger. I thought when I married him that I wanted something more modern and colorful, but I realize now that this house is so much grander. It radiates power, and nothing is more important. I just didn't realize it when I married Juan and left here.”

“I don't remember that house in Mexico City.”

“No, of course you don't. Poor child. What a life you've had these last years. It will be all better now.”

Cara didn't answer.

And Natalie didn't like it. “You haven't said more than a few words since you woke up in that helicopter. I believe you're being rude to me.”

“I don't mean to be rude. I don't know what to say. I'm confused. All of this is very strange.” More than strange, Cara thought. She had tried to sort out her feelings and truth from lies on the long flight from Liverpool to Moscow. But she hadn't gotten further than the few conclusions she had drawn after that first conversation she'd had with Natalie. Not really conclusions. But she was being bombarded by impressions every moment she was with Natalie Castino. “And I don't know why I'm here.”

“You're here because I wish you to be here. You're my daughter, and you do as I tell you to do.” She was gazing at Cara coldly. “From what I understand, you could have saved me from a good deal of heartache if you'd not willingly gone along with that traitor, Elena, after your sister was killed. Now you need to make it up to me.”

“Elena wasn't a traitor. She raised me, tried to help me.”

“She was a servant who should have brought you home to me.”

“She died trying to save me,” Cara whispered.

Natalie shook her head. “All lies, Cara. I'm the only one you can trust.”

“No, that's not true. I can trust Eve.”

Anger flickered over Natalie's face. “I've told you that she meant you harm. We won't talk about her.”

“I have to talk about her.” She asked the question she'd been wanting to ask since the moment she had first roused in the helicopter. “There was a shot. I heard it. Did you hurt Eve?”

“I told you I didn't. How many times do I have to—” She drew a deep breath. “Very well, I was planning on having a discussion with you anyway before I let you meet my father. I won't discuss Eve at the moment. I'll save that for a time after you've proved you can be obedient and loyal to me.”