Even though Audubon had been gone less than two days, the mansion felt deserted and lifeless, like a castle with no king. But what alarmed Elena was Clarice and Bernard’s somber mood. She watched them stare listlessly out the windows, their duties forgotten. Elena wandered from room to room, pretending to read a book in the library, talking to the chef about Russian recipes, trying to hide the fact that every nerve was tuned to a high pitch.
Her control evaporated when she walked into the great room and caught Clarice crying inside Bernard’s distraught embrace. They pulled apart quickly. “I shouldn’t watch soap operas,” Clarice said, dabbing at her eyes. “I haven’t cried this much since Nicki had an unknown fatal illness and tried to give Victor back to Ashley on The Young and the Restless.”
“Tell me why you’re so upset about Audubon,” Elena begged, going to them with outstretched hands. “I’ll lose my mind imagining the truth, if you don’t. This couldn’t be how you react every time he goes away on a job.”
Bernard cleared his throat and looked at her kindly. “I assure you, we have no doubt that he and Kash will be fine. Audubon’s work has never been without risks. You mustn’t overreact. He’ll be dismayed when he learns you’re so frantic.”
“Then tell me why the two of you are upset.”
“Clarice and I are growing old. For us, worrying is a hobby. We prefer it to shuffleboard.”
“Bernie, we can’t do this to Elena,” Clarice said hoarsely. “It’s not fair.”
“But it’s what Audubon wants.”
“He loves Elena, and she loves him. Hiding the truth from her right now is an insult to their love.”
After a long moment in which Elena met Bernard’s gaze with pleading silence, he sighed and nodded. “Yes.”
Elena took his hands. “Tell me.”
“Miguel de Valdivia is holding Kash at his ranch. Audubon has gone to trade himself for Kash.”
“But that man hates Audubon! He might even kill—” She stepped back, ice-cold hands rising to her mouth in horror. “Kill him.”
“Yes,” Clarice said, her voice breaking. “If the others can’t find a way to get him out, he’ll probably … die.”
“The others?”
“The best people Audubon has working for him. Plus several of the old group—Jeopard and Kyle Surprise, Drake Lancaster. Also Douglas Kincaid is pulling some very powerful political strings to get help from the military. But Miguel de Valdivia is an important man in his country.” Clarice sneered, as if she wished to spit something vile from her mouth. “The damned diplomats don’t want an international incident.”
Elena heard herself make an inhuman sound, a wail of grief merging with sheer rage. “I’m sick of diplomats and political maneuvers! I won’t give Audubon to their insanity! I won’t let them destroy him!”
She scarcely heard the chime of the manor’s alarm system. Clarice grabbed her by the arm as Bernard ran to an intercom on one cherry-paneled wall. “What is it, Stephen?”
“Unusual visitors just crashed the party. When the Chief’s away, the mice will play. Take cover.”
“Another visit from the FBI,” Clarice muttered. “Come on, Elena.”
They ran to Audubon’s study. Elena’s white leather flats slipped on the carpet and she slammed one knee into a door facing. The pain made her head swim, but she ignored it. She had never been able to heal herself, but no pain could compete with her anguish over Audubon.
On their way to the inner office and its hidden door, Elena grabbed a small paperweight from his desk, desperate to have something that Audubon had touched. Her fingers vibrated against the smooth brown wood of a whimsically carved turtle. It was such an ordinary item that it must mean a great deal to him, she thought. Audubon, feel me loving you. Feel me protecting you. She shoved the funny little turtle into the pocket of her white shirtwaist dress.
A few seconds later she and Clarice were safely hidden in the underground rooms. The phone console beeped on Clarice’s desk. She punched a button.
“They may stay here for hours,” Bernard said in a low voice. “I won’t be able to call you again.”
Elena bent over the intercom. “Is Kriloff with them?”
“No.”
Clarice was all business and fight. “I’ll get on the private horn. See if I can jerk some tails and get these mice out of our hair.” Her face softened for an instant. “You give ’em hell, Bernie.”
“I’ll freeze them to death with my good manners.”
Elena paced the floor outside Audubon’s office while Clarice phoned people whom she obviously knew well. She called them by their first names and, when they weren’t forthcoming with help, by less polite names. Suddenly one of the fax machines began whirring. As Elena headed toward it, Clarice blocked her way. “The agents use those to send messages.”
“About Audubon.”
“About a lot of things. Let me decide if there’s anything you ought to know. Please, honey. I’m trying to take care of you.”
“If Audubon is dead, I have to know.” She pushed past Clarice and ran to the machine. It birthed a sheet of paper with maddening slowness, and she felt as if her muscles were being stretched on a rack.
Finally a dark, scrawled message emerged. Cash and Carry. The Chief is on deposit. Going back for seconds when we get the contract. It was signed. The Iceman.
A cry of frustration tore from Elena. “Speak English!”
Clarice put an arm around her shoulders. “Kash has been released,” she translated. “Audubon has taken his place.”
“Oh, dear God”
“But Jeopard Surprise and the others will try to help him. They’re deciding the best way to go about it.”
“But maybe there’s no time.”
“No, Miguel de Valdivia won’t act immediately. He savors his revenge. We know that. We’ve studied him for years.”
Elena wouldn’t let herself think about the ways a cruel man would savor revenge. Instead she looked at the ceiling, thinking of the important government people searching for her upstairs, determined to find her. She wasn’t afraid of them or Kriloff anymore. She was only afraid that Audubon would die.
The fax machine hummed again. Elena and Clarice hunched over it. Elena’s eyes burned from staring at the paper creeping out. “Ah, Traynor,” Clarice said with a thoughtful tone, as Bird Dog appeared in fluid, scrolled script. “He’s in charge. He’s our top person.”
Status on Dove requested, the message read. I say use her. Why the change in plans?
Elena staggered a little and stepped back. Clarice followed quickly and grabbed her arms. “Let me explain.”
“I’m the dove. I was supposed to be used as … as what?”
“A trade. A bargaining chip. Audubon could have turned you over to the State Department in exchange for help in getting Kash out of Mexico.”
Elena shut her eyes, feeling numb. She’d known all along there was a hidden motive to his kindness, but it hurt to hear it confirmed. She looked at Clarice again. “But he didn’t turn me over.”
“No. He went to Mexico and traded himself. I’ll tell you something else. He left arrangements for you to have all the money you’ll need to settle in America and make a good life.” Clarice was crying now. “He loves you so much. Please understand he would never have hurt you. Even if he’d gone through with his plan, he’d have made certain you weren’t sent back to Russia. He loves you so much that he’s giving up his life!”
“Will you bring me a glass of water, please? I feel faint.”
“Sit down, honey. I’ll be right back.”
As soon as Clarice disappeared down a hallway to a small kitchen, Elena turned and ran for the stairs. At the top she pushed a button, and the panel slid back. Calmly, smoothing her hands over her hair and dress, she walked out of Audubon’s study into the main hall. A startled FBI agent dropped his walkie-talkie.
“I am Elena Petrovic,” she told him.
In less than two minutes a dozen men surrounded her. I must be very valuable, indeed. Good. The agent in charge gave her the coolest of scrutiny. “For a secretary, you’ve certainly caused the State Department a lot of money, time, and embarrassment.”
“I’ll end all the trouble and go back to Kriloff.” She glanced over the man’s shoulder. In the background Clarice and Bernard watched with shattered expressions. “On one condition: Your government must bring T. S. Audubon back from Mexico alive.”
“You don’t have much to bargain with, Ms. Petrovic.”
“Oh? Several important people know my story—the poor young woman, trying to defect, only to find that your government is more interested in making a famous Russian scientist happy by returning his secretary to him, even though she begs for freedom.”
The agent scowled, but she could tell he was willing to negotiate. She smiled sadly at Clarice. I also will give up my life.
To Audubon’s dazed vision the stars seemed to have been smeared across the night sky. His focus was coming back slowly. He knew that he was in pain, that the ground where he lay was sandy but not soft enough for his bruised body, that a small cactus was sticking him in the arm. The sticking sensation ended. Amused but gentle voices were discussing him.
“Let the pain medication get into his bloodstream, and five minutes from now he’ll be giving us a lecture on tactical negotiations.”
“Or asking for a bottle of cognac and a violin.”
“He won’t be playing the violin for a while.”
“You know my father better than that. He’ll be playing Mozart by tomorrow.”
Audubon opened his eyes and met Kash’s gaze. With his darkly exotic looks the young man belonged in a desert, but not this one. He should be dressed like a sheikh, Audubon thought groggily, not wearing a dusty khaki shirt and trousers. A sheikh for a son. He loved the idea. He loved Kash.
“Father,” Kash said gently, pressing a hand into his shoulder, “it’s all over. Everything is all right.”
“Dead?” They both knew who he meant.
“No, he got away from us. We were lucky to surprise his people when we did. If we hadn’t had help … well, never mind.”
“Help?”
“The cavalry arrived just in time,” the other voice said. Jeopard Surprise was kneeling beside him, also, he realized.
Audubon licked his sunburned lips. “Cavalry?”
Kash patted his shoulder. “We’ll explain after you’ve been patched up, Father.”
“Father. You never called me that before.”
“Well, you never tried so hard to get yourself killed before. I’d better say all the things I’ve wanted to say for years, because you seem to be getting reckless … I love you.”
“I love you too.”
“Traynor says you didn’t have to risk your life for me.”
“Traynor is a cynic.”
“I heard that,” Traynor said from somewhere. “My feelings are hurt.”
“You have no feelings. That’s why I hired you.”
“Birds of a feather, Chief, birds of a feather.”
“Not me. Not anymore.” Audubon drew his first deep breath without pain stabbing his ribs. Elena. From the moment he’d regained consciousness, she’d been dancing at the edges of his mind, a promise that had been fulfilled beyond his best hopes. Not only had he saved his son, he was alive and going home to Elena.
“How soon can we get out of here?” he asked Kash. “I have someone important for you to meet back at home.”
There was silence for a moment, filled with the night wind whipping along empty earth. Audubon’s vision was clear now. He looked from Jeopard to Kash, not liking the troubled glances they exchanged.
“Let me tell him,” Jeopard said finally. “It should come from someone who knew her.”
Paris. All she saw of it from the plane’s small window was other planes taxiing across gray concrete. The sky was the same color of gray. Nearly the same shade as her awful gray suit. Much lighter than her mood.
She pressed her forehead against the warm glass and let misery overwhelm her again, until she was quivering. At least they’d transferred from an American military plane to a commercial flight. But Kriloff and his group were the flight’s only occupants and there would be no return for her. Sergei patted her hand. “When we get back to the institute. I’ll make you some fish head soup, Laney-kitten. You’ll feel better then.”
“No. But my friend was rescued. That’s all that matters.” When she thought about never seeing Audubon again, never hearing his voice or making love to him or having the chance to learn all the mysteries she’d wanted to know, she didn’t care what happened next.
“She’ll come to her senses,” Kriloff said. He lounged at the front of the first-class cabin, surveying the KGB bodyguards scattered around him in the plush seats. Finally his eyes met Elena’s deadly stare. “What kind of future did T. S. Audubon offer you? Marriage? No. He would have exploited you and your gift then tossed you out when he grew bored.”
“He gave me more love and respect than you can ever understand. He is a man of tradition and honor.”
“Tradition and honor?” The doctor laughed. “Do you want to hear what he did to his parents when he was eighteen years old?”
She stiffened. “How would you know?”
“I had much time to learn about the man, Elena.”
“Oh, who really knows the truth about such old tales?” Sergei interjected, sounding regretful and patting her hand anxiously. “We don’t need to talk about—”
“You’re in enough trouble, Sergei, without adding insubordination to it.” Kriloff glared at him, not used to having a bodyguard voice an opinion to his face. Elena clutched Sergei’s hand. He would probably be demoted for letting her get away that night at the hotel in Richmond. The night she’d met Audubon. Her throat burned with tears. “What are you trying to tell me about Audubon?” she asked Kriloff coolly. “I know everything that’s important.”
“Elena, you are so naive. The man murdered his own mother and father.”
She sat back slowly, as if a giant invisible hand were flattening her against the seat. For a second, she couldn’t breathe. Sergei leaned close and whispered, “Accused but found innocent.”
“Sergei, be quiet,” Kriloff said. He went to the seat across from them and sat down casually, crossing his legs. “Audubon was responsible for his own sister’s death too. Imagine. A twelve-year-old boy deliberately pushing his younger sister off of a ski lift.”
Sergei squeezed her hand. More lies, he was telling her. Elena shoved her fists into the pockets of her baggy gray jacket. “I’d like to have heard the true story from Audubon. Not your version.” Her fingers closed around the funny wooden turtle she’d managed to keep. The smooth surface had been polished by Audubon’s fingers for years. A sense of certainty and peace flowed from it.
What a tragic story he would have told her, if she’d been able to stay with him. She would have been a sympathetic listener. She hoped, wherever he was right now, that he could feel her loving him.
All conversation stopped as a tall, slender young man wearing a flight attendant’s uniform stepped inside the cabin. “Good afternoon,” he said in French. His teeth flashed white against an olive complexion. His features were handsome and unusual, a puzzling mixture of nationalities. His hair was glossy black. But when he smiled at Elena, she wasn’t sure if she smiled back. She was already lost in thoughts about Audubon again.
“The crew will be boarding soon,” the handsome attendant continued. “But in the meantime I’d like to tell you about our in-flight movie.” He reached inside his jacket, produced a pistol, and pointed it at Kriloff. “It’s called Return of the Dove. Ms. Petrovic, I’ll be happy to escort you out.”
She stared at him. Kash Santelli. Of course! But where was Audubon? They lied to you. He’s dead. Kash had dutifully come here to fulfill his dead father’s wishes.
“I’ll simply follow you back to America and retrieve her again,” Kriloff said.
Elena stood. She spoke slowly and calmly, because she was hollow inside. “No, you won’t. I have nothing left to lose. I’ll tell everything. I’ll create the most terrible scandal you can imagine. I’ll let the whole world know that you keep people locked up and study them like laboratory animals. And I’ll be sure to tell them that you make your prize subjects produce children together, to see if miracles are genetic.” She nodded at the anger in Kash Santelli’s dark eyes. “If I go back to the institute, I’m scheduled to be artificially inseminated, like a cow.”
“Are you ready to leave?” a man behind Kash asked, stepping into the cabin. Elena didn’t recognize him. He was brawny and auburn-haired, and he held a gun against the front of his baggage handler’s jumpsuit. He didn’t look as if he needed the gun to terrify people. “I’ll keep this nice little group seated.”
Elena eased past Sergei, stroking his mottled cheek as she did. He kissed her hand. “I’m going to defect! I’ll get off the plane here, after you leave.”
“Come to America and meet me,” she told him. “We’ll be family.”
“Yes!”
She looked at Kriloff. He was grinding his teeth and shivering with fury. “Follow me, and I’ll ruin you,” she whispered.
A few seconds later she was walking swiftly across the tarmac with Kash Santelli, not speaking, afraid freedom was an illusion that would end before it began. Like her life with Audubon. She hugged herself as Kash guided her into a small car. “We have a flight to catch,” he said cheerfully, driving like a madman between planes and baggage carts.
She looked wearily out the window, unconcerned. “Is Audubon dead?”
“Dead? Of course not! Why did you think so?”
She jerked to attention. “But why didn’t he—oh, I’m so greedy. Of course, he didn’t have to meet me here, himself.”
“Put your head on your knees. I don’t want anyone to see you.”
She clutched her knees for several minutes, swaying with the car, humming under her breath. He was alive! If he hadn’t made a dramatic rescue in person, what did it matter? Her blood froze. This was not like Audubon at all. “He’s hurt,” she said numbly.
Kash slid the car to a squealing halt. She glanced at the small jet next to them, then turned toward him. “Tell me.”
“Yes, but he’ll be fine, now that he’s got you back.”
She was full of questions and fear as she climbed the jet’s stairway. Kyle Surprise grasped her hand and pulled her in. “Welcome to Audubon Airlines. We’ll be on our way to Scotland in about sixty seconds.”
“Traynor’s holding the fort,” Kash said. “He’ll meet us later.”
She looked around fervently, seeing nothing but the cockpit door, Kyle, Drake Lancaster, and thick curtains that closed off the jet’s cabin. She reached for them wildly.
“Be careful when you hug him,” Kash urged, pulling the curtains back. “He’ll need at least a month before he’s huggable—wait!”
But she was already running toward Audubon, who was propped up in a thronelike pair of cushioned seats, smiling at her and holding out a hand as best he could. His face was covered in bruises, and the thick binding around his rib cage showed through his white shirt.
She shrieked something, his name or a blessing, or both, she didn’t know, but she was making hoarse little sounds in her throat as she climbed into a corner of one seat and pressed as much of her body against him as she could.
“No, love, don’t,” he begged hoarsely, as she ran her hands over his chest, pouring her warmth and energy into him.
“Elena, you’re hurting him,” Kash said firmly. He took her shoulders. “Come sit down …” His voice trailed off. “It feels as if I just put my hands into a warm bath. My God.”
She murmured Audubon’s name and put her hands on his face. Audubon kissed her hands but kept repeating desperately. “I’m all right. Don’t make yourself sick. I love you. I don’t want to hurt you.”
“I know,” she whispered, feeling his body mending, bound to him with an energy that she knew, for the first time, she could control because of him. “I’m fine. I’m free, and I’m with you. You’ll be able to hold me while I sleep.”
“Elena.” He put his arms around her, moving with a limberness he hadn’t been capable of only seconds before. “I’ll hold you forever.”
She knew she was in trouble before she opened her eyes. She was in another sinfully plush bed, in a room scented with flowers. And Audubon was sitting beside her, tracing her mouth with his fingertip.
She blinked lazily and looked up at him. “You’re perfect again,” she whispered. “Inside and out.”
The smile he gave her had its own sensual power. She glanced lower and saw that he wore a heavy, blue satin dressing gown. A handsome portion of his chest showed between the lapels. The leg that was drawn up beside her was deliciously bare.
“I hope that we’re someplace decadent,” she said.
“Not decadent, but definitely Victorian. We’re at Elgiva and Douglas’s estate on the Scottish coast.”
“I missed everything.”
“Yes, you put on quite a show, draped in my arms like Sleeping Beauty. All the servants are probably gossiping about the way I carried you straight up here. And Kash kept staring at his hands, then at the two of us, particularly me. On the plane, when I took off my rib bandages, I thought he was going to need help with his jaw. It seemed to be permanently hinged open.”
She touched the voluminous flannel gown she wore. It was buttoned up to her neck. “Elgiva’s?”
“Yes. She said she knows it’s not appealing, but that old Scottish manors are drrrafty. Hmmm.” He ran his fingers down the buttons at the center of her chest. “Actually, the interesting texture and deceptively proper appearance are very appealing.”
Elena took his hand and held it against her cheek, loving the feel of the weathered skin. The tenderness inside her was reflected in his own eyes. They sat quietly, smiling at each other. “You saved my life, Elena.”
“You saved mine.”
“Clarice said you didn’t hesitate, even after you learned the truth.”
“About you intending to trade me to the State Department to get help for your son? That’s not such an awful truth to learn, Audubon.”
“Even if I’d gone through with it, I would have made certain you weren’t sent back to Russia.”
“I know.” She stroked the back of his hand, making her touch intentionally soothing. “I know the truth about your family also. I don’t have a very clear picture of what happened, but enough to understand how terrible it must have been for you.”
He gave her a troubled look. “Who told you?”
“Kriloff. He investigated your background.”
“What did he say?”
“That you were a murderer.”
“You didn’t wonder if—”
“No, I didn’t. Sergei said you were found innocent, but even if he hadn’t told me that, I wouldn’t have thought you capable of harming your own parents.”
Audubon took her hands and held them against his chest. She felt the steady, slow beat of his heart. It was a wonderful heart, incapable of anything ugly. She knew that without having to touch him. “I trust you,” she reminded him.
He exhaled slowly. “My family went skiing in Switzerland every winter. By the time I was twelve and my sister was ten, we were experts. We were also Audubons, which meant that we were arrogant, hard-headed, and spoiled. Our parents always went their own way and left us under the watch of some poor, abused nanny. On this occasion we sneaked away from her and went to the slopes by ourselves.”
“We should never have been allowed to ride up on the lift without an adult, but we were the rich, overconfident Audubons, and none of the ski lodge employees wanted to risk making our parents angry. So they let us go.”
He shut his eyes. Elena saw the pain around them. “We were pushing at each other, just playing, nothing foolish, I swear. One second Melinda was beside me, and the next … she was falling.”
“Oh, Audubon.”
“I could never decide if I caused her to fall or if it was just a freak accident. For years I played it over and over in my mind. It nearly drove me crazy.”
“It was an accident.”
He looked at her curiously. “I found one of my paperweights in the pocket of your suit. Why did you pick up that particular piece?”
“I wanted something of yours that was personal. I took it on my way downstairs to hide, when the government men came. I’d just learned that you might be killed in Mexico. The wooden turtle looked warm and friendly to me. And quiet, as if it had been around for years and had nothing to prove.”
“My sister carved it. She was so creative. I’m sure she would have been an artist or sculptor if she’d lived.”
“I think she loved you very much, and you loved her, and that what happened wasn’t from carelessness on your part. It could have been you who fell, just as easily.”
“I learned to believe that, eventually.” He looked at her sadly. “My parents never did, though.”
“They blamed you?”
“Yes. I was the older child, and the boy. That made me responsible for what happened. My mother, who claimed to be psychic, said that she’d dreamed that I hated Melinda. That was the opposite of the truth. Melinda and I were so obnoxious in all the same ways that we adored each other. But Mother trusted her dream more than she trusted me. I was banished, you might say, to one of the strictest military academies in Virginia. From the time I was twelve years old, I came home only for holidays and a few weeks during the summer. I can’t say that there wasn’t some relief in being away from them. I think they’d disliked each other for years before the accident. Afterward, the relationship only got worse.”
“And when you were eighteen …” Her throat closed. She stared at him, waiting.
“I was home temporarily, getting ready to leave for college. It was the first time I realized how violent my parents had become toward each other. Throwing things, screaming at each other. One night I came home from a party and … found them. There was a gun.” She saw a muscle flex convulsively in his throat. “Both of them. Dead.”
Elena sat up and put her arms around him. “How could anyone accuse you?”
“There was never any serious case against me, not even an indictment, just lurid newspaper articles and a lot of gossip about the bitterness in the family. The coroner’s report made it clear that no third party was involved in what happened.”
Audubon hugged her hard and said with strained lightness, “So that’s the sordid story of my family. Honestly, it won’t hurt my feelings if you double-check the details.”
“I’ve already seen the proof. I declare you innocent. Case closed.” She sat back, wiping her eyes. “And now I understand why you don’t think much of the idea of marrying and having a family.”
The old memories faded from his eyes. His expression gentled so much that she became very still, almost enchanted. “I was afraid you wouldn’t think much of marriage—at least not in connection with me—after hearing my story.”
Under the solemn flannel, her heart began to race. “I remember a discussion once about bookstores, dogs, and cats. Marriage was mentioned briefly, but it never stood a chance.”
“Bookstores, dogs, cats, marriage, children. It all goes together in my mind.”
“But you have a very manipulative mind, dear man.”
“But I thought you’d learned to enjoy that about me, dear woman.”
“Is this a marriage proposal?”
“I’ve never been involved in one before, but, yes, I believe that’s what it is.” Growing serious, he took her face between his hands. “Elena, please marry me.”
“Please kiss me.” He did. “Yes.”
“Please say yes again, and dress it up.”
“I love you with every bit of my heart, and I’ll make flowers bloom for you as long as I live.”
“Nice,” he whispered, pulling her into his arms. “Very nice dressing up.”
Much later, in the quiet, she reminded him that he’d promised to tell her his full name. He smiled against her lips. “I promise to tell you on your eightieth birthday, when all of our children and grandchildren are gathered around to hear. It should be a dramatic moment.”
She laughed softly. This fox would always be sly. Still, she wouldn’t mind the wait.