Touched by Lightning [Dreams of You] (Romantic Suspense) (20 page)

None of that appeased Ulyssis. “And do what with you? How can you be so foolish to trust him? You’re thinking with your heart, a dangerous thing.” He shook her shoulders. “Do I have to tie you up in the dark room until you come to your senses?”

“No, no. I have something to tell you that will change your mind.” She told him about the lightning, Adrian’s seeing her life instead of his own and experiencing the horror of the explosion.

Ulyssis paced in the small shop, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “I don’t know. But maybe this is a good thing, considering.”

“What do you mean?”

“Maybe, if this man is what you say he is, it’s good that he’s here to protect you. I have friends who know Devlin, so I keep my ears tuned for you. I’ve heard something that might interest you.”

“About Devlin?”

“Yes. You know that brother of yours was always an idiot with money. I’m surprised he never bought the Brooklyn Bridge. Can you believe he’s run through his entire inheritance? One of my friends overheard another man yelling at Devlin in a restaurant for buying some high-rise office building in Tampa without getting his advice. Devlin thought it was a bargain. It’s called the Madeira. I called a fellow gallery owner up there who runs in the real estate circles to find out what he knew. It was built three years ago, but before it was finished, the builder went bankrupt. Then some other company bought it, but they didn’t do anything with it either. Now I know why. Apparently the building has serious structural problems, enough that it will have to be torn down and rebuilt. Devlin owes the bank for the balance, the previous owner is nowhere to be found, and he’s going to lose everything.

“Apparently this man, whom my friend didn’t know, offered Devlin a deal. If he could fix the building problem, would Devlin agree to turn his business, LandCorp, over to his control? The two men didn’t make a decision, so I don’t know what the outcome was.”

Nikki shook her head. “I can’t imagine Devlin turning control of anything over to anyone. He’s been trying for that brass ring for years, and he’s not about to let someone else grab it.”

“I thought that, too, but if he didn’t take that offer, he’s going to be desperately looking for money to bail out. I’m afraid he’ll start thinking about finding you if he doesn’t get funds soon.”

She shivered. “If he hasn’t already been looking for me. But if he hasn’t found me yet…” She trailed off, because she could never be sure.

“What about this Adrian?”

“I’ve known him for three weeks now. He would have already told Devlin where to find me by now.”

“No, I mean, if he wants to take you away from here, and you trust him, then why don’t you let him?”

She explained her reasoning, as she had to Adrian. “I won’t drag anyone else into my shadows. It’s bad enough that you’re involved.”

Ulyssis shrugged, knowing already the argument was futile. She had survived for two years on the streets in the most unlikely place, and she would survive the next two years, too.

“I know I’m always the bearer of bad news and concern, but please be careful. Trust no one, not completely.”

Nikki stopped by the shelter around noon, bringing Adrian two meat patties from the restaurant he seemed to like. The place looked completely different, covered in dust and filled with people working hard and rock music. There was a palpable excitement in the air that came with working together to save something they cherished. This was the only home many of these people had.

Adrian was positioning a cabinet in the kitchen when she found him. Even with the cool air coming through the open doors, he looked sweaty in his tank top. When he saw her standing there, he smiled.

“Time to break for lunch,” he announced, though another man who seemed to be in charge grumbled that there wasn’t time for lunch. Adrian’s eyes smiled at her when he said, “Some things are more important than work, fellows.”

Dave crawled out from beneath another cabinet in the far side of the kitchen, covered with white dust. “Nikki. How are you doing?”

“Okay,” she said, though she wasn’t quite sure at the moment.

Dave turned to Adrian. “So this is why you’ve been in such a good mood this morning.”

“Come on, let’s go outside,” Adrian said, taking her arm and ignoring the smirk on Dave’s face. “Sometimes people are too nosy for their own good.”

They walked around the back of the building next door where her van was parked. Crackers jumped up on Adrian’s legs, his tail wagging.

“He sure likes you, considering…” She let the words trail off but kept an eyebrow cocked.

“I still feel terrible about the whole thing. At least he forgives me.”

Her cocky attitude wilted. “I do, too. And thanks for taking care of his vet bill.”

“How’d you find out about that?”

“I asked when I took him back.”

He shrugged, biting into one of the meat patties. “It was the least I could do.”

After he finished off his patties, with a piece left for Crackers, he sat back on her bed, pulling her back against his chest. With his arm around her, she felt safe enough to tell him what Ulyssis had said.

That protectiveness showed in his brown eyes when he sat up and looked at her. “I want you to come back to New York with me. Now.”

“I can’t, and I won’t. He’s not going to drive me out of the only place I feel safe in. I just wanted you to know.”

He took a deep breath, calming himself down. “Okay. You’re tough, you can take care of yourself. I have to keep remembering that. But if something happens to you…” He shook his head. “I’d blame myself for not packing you up and shipping you to New York.”

“You’re not responsible for me.”

He raised his arms in surrender. “I know, I know.”

Crackers crawled up on the bed, where Nikki sometimes let him sleep next to her. He curled up next to them, sighing before closing his eyes.

“I never liked animals much,” Adrian said, stroking the pup’s soft fur. “Maybe because I never had one, except for this cat I’ve been babysitting for a year. But this guy is pretty neat. If you want, leave him at the house. That way he’ll have more room. Of course, you could stay, too.”

Nikki absently pet Crackers’s paw. “He would be happier there. So would I, but you know I can’t stay.”

“Tell me about Devlin,” Adrian asked, surprising her with the sudden change of subject.

She hated to even think about him. “He was pretty much a normal kid, got into trouble, talked back to our parents, that kind of thing. He got into even more trouble when my father died ten years ago. He played with fire a few times, built those rockets I told you about and nearly burned down the next door neighbor’s house. He was never particularly smart, but he wasn’t dumb either. I used to feel sorry for him, because he always pretended to be something he wasn’t. He acted flashy and outgoing, but he was neither. I could see right through him, but maybe his friends couldn’t. Or his so-called friends. I think they hung around with him because he bought them stuff, like liquor and concert tickets. It was sad.”

“Were you close?”

“Never. He was mean when we were younger, and then we grew apart when he hit his teens.” She remembered that strange conversation about not losing touch with each other a few months before the explosion. Why had he said that when he’d planned to murder her? “A couple of times he locked me in the wine cellar and didn’t let me out for hours. This was when my parents were out and the staff was busy or off for the day. It was pitch dark, and I was petrified. To this day I hate being in the dark.

“When he met Jack, he started acting like him. Jack embodied everything Devlin wanted to be: handsome, charming, sure of himself. Jack was also intelligent and clever, and after all the failures Devlin had suffered, he clung to Jack in hopes of that success rubbing off on him. Devlin idolized him.”

“What about you?” Adrian asked, leaning back on the bed.

“Jealous?” she teased.

“Maybe. Should I be?”

Nikki pulled her knees up and wrapped her arms around them, her back still against Adrian’s chest. “No. He’s nothing like you. Oh, I thought I was in love with him. I’m sure now it was infatuation. I dated him for about six months.”

“Oh, so it wasn’t serious.”

“We were talking marriage.” At his raised eyebrows, she added, “
He
was talking marriage. I wasn’t sure, especially since I hadn’t known him that long. He was debonair and charming. I wasn’t worried about him being after my money, because he had enough of his own.”

“This was the guy who was pressuring you?”

“Yes. He kept dropping hints about other women who might like to marry a man like him and not make him wait. I didn’t like being manipulated.”

“Good girl,” he said. “What was his rush, anyway?”

“He said he loved me and couldn’t wait to make me his wife. Then he did something that bothered me even more. He asked to borrow money from me. He was always into some business venture or another, but he said his money was tied up and there was a hot deal he wanted in on. He told me all about it, some restaurant on the bay. He worked through the figures with me and everything, made it sound like we couldn’t lose. The profits would give him money of his own so we wouldn’t live on mine, since his was so tied up. If he hadn’t made it clear that he didn’t want to live on mine, or to even touch mine, I would have wondered.”

“Wondered about what?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Jack said he had made a fortune, had homes here and there, businesses and such. But aside from his dressing nice and big talk, I never actually saw evidence of that money. I had to take into consideration that to someone who didn’t know me, I didn’t look like I came from money either. He had a nice place, but nothing special. He said he was looking for a home here but didn’t care much where he stayed until he found the perfect place.

“Jack talked about the estate in France where he’d grown up, the vineyards, his father hating him. He talked about his money and investments a lot, mostly in relation to when we got married. I hated talking about money. I figured I’d tell him eventually that I had five years before I inherited any of my own.”

“How much did Jack want to borrow?”

“Seventy-five thousand dollars.” It seemed like so much now, but back then it was only a tiny part of the money she lived around. “He said he’d even sell one of his homes, if he thought he could do it soon enough.”

“What did he do when you told him you didn’t have any money to loan?”

“He was bummed. Devlin couldn’t get in on it because Mother had just cut him off financially. He figured she owed him somehow. She kept most of her money tied up in investments, and Devlin’s loans were not good investments. By his fourth failure, she stopped loaning him money and demanded that he get his head straight and figure out what he was going to do with his life. She was afraid he was going to do exactly what he did: waste his inheritance with his schemes.

“With Devlin, it was one thing after another. I knew my mother wouldn’t give either Jack or Devlin a dime, especially since she didn’t much like Jack. She was very against my marrying him, but she wouldn’t say why. I had just started my own photography business and was proud that I didn’t have to ask her for anything. I couldn’t bring myself to borrow money from her.”

“Where is Jack from?”

“San Francisco. Originally from somewhere in France. He was from an old family in the wine business there. His mother had married a wealthy immigrant, and he continued the business.”

“Did you ever meet them?”

“No. After he and I had talked marriage, I’d asked to meet his parents. I’m very family oriented that way. He explained that he was the black sheep of the family since he’d scorned a strategic marriage that would have helped their business.”

“Did the police ask you about Jack?”

“Yes, just what my relationship was with him, the timing of everything. He wasn’t a suspect. What benefit would my family’s death have for him? I was only his girlfriend, not his wife. Besides, I was supposed to ride with him. I only rode in the Mercedes because he was running late, as usual. I thought you wanted to know about Devlin.”

“I do, but Jack is interesting, too.” He leaned over and gave her a quick kiss. “Thanks for bringing lunch by. I hear hammers going, so I’d better get back. See you at six. You’re welcome to get there early and freshen up if you want.”

“Okay, thanks.”

He scrambled out of the van and walked back to the shelter, waving before disappearing into the building. Nikki sat there and watched him, wondering if he was really jealous of Jack. She wondered what Jack was doing now. Not enough to try to contact him. That part of her life was over, and she couldn’t go back to any of it. In fact, her infatuation for Jack had been waning before the explosion anyway. What she’d felt for Jack was nothing like the gut-wrenching, consuming feeling she had for Adrian.

Adrian made a couple of calls from the shelter, calls he could not tell Nikki about. Then he picked up some essentials for the evening ahead. He knew he had to touch base with Stanley but didn’t want to think about that now. Just the thought of dealing with his whiny agent made him want a cigarette. He realized then that he hadn’t wanted one since Nikki had shown up the night before.

He thought about their conversation over lunch. Why had he been so curious about Jack? Maybe he was jealous, though it wasn’t his nature. Then again, there had never been anyone in his life he cared enough about to be jealous over. It was Devlin he was concerned about, but his thoughts kept drifting to the faceless charmer who had almost stolen Nikki’s heart.

His errands hadn’t taken him as long as he’d figured, so he returned to the house early. It looked quiet from the outside, but when he walked inside, he heard the shower in the bedroom. He tossed the steaks in the refrigerator and walked into the bedroom, stripping off his clothes as he went.

Steam filled the bathroom, but he could make out Nikki’s tantalizing figure through the mist. He slid the door open, and she started when he trailed his finger down the crevice of her spine, all the way down….