Kathryn gritted her teeth as she offered a hand and a closed-mouth smile to yet another doctor from out of town. It seemed there were a lot of out of towners for such a local charity event, and she kept a keen eye on Forrester for any hint of subversive activity. Medical doctors seemed far afield from his normal shady business, but nothing was too far out of his scope when a profit was involved. On the other hand, he was a major contributor to the foundation being honored, so she supposed his attentive behavior wasn’t so out of place after all.
“Big smile, now,” the photographer from the Daily Chronicle said with a grin as his flashbulb popped. “Thank you.”
It was Jenny’s best friend, Bernie, and she eyed him critically for any hint of Jenny’s mindset this evening. She found none as he extended his hand to her. “Have a great evening.”
As she watched him shake hands and exchange niceties with the others in their group, she tucked away the note he pressed into her hand and nonchalantly went on with the business of making Marcus Forrester look good.
She hoped the note was from Jenny, an explanation of her abrupt departure from the ladies’ lounge, perhaps. A few more moments and they could have been alone for the first time since their night together, but, she reasoned, maybe that’s what Jenny wanted to avoid. The night after might as well be the morning after to her, as far as recreational lovers were concerned. Now, with apparently the same attitude, why wouldn’t Jenny? There was nothing more uncomfortable than feigning significance where none existed. The thought annoyed her. Jenny was more than mere recreation to her, and even if she wanted to play at casual bedmates, Kathryn decided that wasn’t good enough.
“Isn’t that so, darling?” she heard Forrester say. She quickly snapped to the matter at hand and chastised herself for losing track of the conversation. Now was not the time for daydreaming. She safely replied with a generic, “That’s right,” followed by a smile. Thankfully, her preoccupation had gone unnoticed by her companions, and she quickly caught up with the discussion and participated without missing another beat.
After a few more introductions and meaningless stretches of small talk, Forrester excused himself to the men’s smoking lounge with several of the male attendees, a ritual that always precluded her attendance. Alone at last, and with her duty to her assignment momentarily suspended, she looked at the small piece of paper she’d been given. It had a room number on it, nothing else, but she recognized Jenny’s slanted script and smiled. She would have about an hour before Forrester would emerge from his den of machismo, so slipping unnoticed from the crowded hall, she sought out the object of her distraction.
Jenny paced the darkened meeting room above the ballroom. It was a relatively small space, empty save for the short bar on the mirrored wall to the left upon entering and a few stacked chairs in the center of the room. She was excited and nervous to see Kathryn alone again but didn’t want to show either. She took a deep breath and exhaled it forcefully, shook out her arms, and adjusted the top of her dress.
When she heard the doorknob turn, she quickly took her predetermined place and set her shoulders back, ready to play it cool.
“I was wondering whether you’d come,” she said calmly, revealing herself fully from around a corner when Kathryn entered the room.
Kathryn looked startled at the sound of her voice, and then Jenny realized she was confused by the moving reflection in the mirror behind the bar. Jenny had positioned herself so she could see the door in the mirror in case her visitor wasn’t who she expected. She wasn’t sure what she would have done had it been someone else. She was too rattled by the meeting with Forrester for coherent smooth-talking.
Kathryn’s hand slipped into her clutch bag, and Jenny knew very well what was in there.
“Don’t shoot,” she said to ease the tension, unsure if their meeting was a horrendous breach of protocol. She felt it best to stay put, better to measure Kathryn’s attitude and the perfect opportunity to practice her indifference. She put her hands behind her back and leaned against the wall opposite the bar, her body silhouetted against the courtyard lights as they seeped through the tall French doors leading to the balcony.
Kathryn shut the door behind her. Her face was hidden in shadow, but her gown defied the darkness and glowed as the stray light breathed life into translucent glass beads embedded into its length. “Did anyone see you come in here?” she asked.
“No.”
“How did you get in?”
“Bernie knows one of the waiters. No one is using this room. We won’t be disturbed.”
Kathryn reached behind her back and locked the door, pausing briefly before stepping further into the room. Her reticence made Jenny nervous, and she wished she could see her face. When she finally moved closer and into the low light, her cool expression revealed nothing.
“Are you all right?” she asked, her voice matching her indifferent stare.
Jenny was unsure of how to react. She wanted to take Kathryn in her arms and kiss her like crazy, but she didn’t seem like her Kathryn at the moment, so she answered just as coldly. “Yes.”
Her less than enthusiastic response put a crease between Kathryn’s brow. She tightened the grip on her purse and scanned the room with a few quick flicks of her eyes, as if questioning their privacy and whether she needed the gun.
“It’s okay,” Jenny said. “I’m okay.”
Kathryn looked at her with concern and tenderly took her hand. “You’re sure?”
Jenny smiled and nodded, anticipating an embrace and the return of the kind lover from the night before.
She didn’t return. Instead, she dropped her hand, strode to the bar, leaned across and behind it, and straightened with a bottle of scotch in tow. She set it on the counter with a dull thud. “Do you want a drink?” she asked, not turning around or looking in the mirror.
“Don’t mind if I do,” Jenny said, admiring the subtle play of light and shadow on Kathryn’s bare back.
Kathryn slid two glasses from the end of the bar over to the bottle and glanced in the mirror. She caught Jenny raking her eyes up her tall form, and when their eyes met, Jenny felt a chill skitter up her spine.
“See something you like?” Kathryn asked, unmistakably annoyed.
“Sorry.”
Kathryn faced her and crossed her arms. “If you’re angry with me, I’d rather you just have out with it. I’m sorry for my behavior out there, but I told you this was how it was going to be. I’m sorry if you don’t like it, but there it is.”
Jenny was shocked that she’d misinterpreted annoyance for insecurity, and she couldn’t help but laugh.
Kathryn’s arms dropped to her side, her hands balled into fists. “Is something funny?”
Jenny held up her hands in surrender, abandoning her feeble attempt at indifference before Kathryn blew a fuse. “I give.”
Kathryn looked utterly lost. “What?”
“You are the most exquisite creature I have ever met in my entire life,” Jenny said. “I’m not angry with you, Kat. I am in absolute awe of you. I don’t know how you do it.” She pushed herself away from the wall, her usual demeanor back where it belonged, and sat on a stool beside Kathryn. “I was a nervous wreck out there. Did you see me babbling on to Forrester? Good grief, please tell me he’s not angry with me.”
Kathryn blinked the confusion and annoyance away, and Jenny watched her body relax. “He’s not angry with you, he—”
“Thank God,” Jenny interrupted. “I was so worried. He’s deceptively nice, you know.” She waved her hand. “Of course you know. I thought I’d throw up when he took my hand, but there you were, cool as a cucumber, and well, if you can do it, I can do it.”
Kathryn opened her mouth to speak, but Jenny went on, as the indifference dam crumbled and washed downstream.
“You know, I thought about being polite, but I figured he already knows I don’t like him, so hold the line, right? And your song—” Jenny touched Kathryn’s arm. “Holy smokes, I thought I was going to faint. And the room thought you were singing to him. Ha!” She raised a fist in the air triumphantly. “That was perfect! You were the talk of the ladies’ room, you know.”
“I can imagine.”
“That young woman found you and Forrester terribly romantic.”
“Ah, youth.”
“Mm,” Jenny said, with a shake of her head.
Kathryn eyed her with interest. “And how do you find it?”
“I think you were brilliant, Kat, obviously. You look stunning, by the way.” She looked Kathryn up and down, who appreciated it this time, and finally grinned a more recognizable smile.
“You look stunning yourself.”
The soft, kind voice from the evening before returned, and Jenny beamed at the compliment. “Thank you.”
“I am sorry about out there,” Kathryn said. “To be quite honest, I was a little surprised to see you here, and I’m afraid I didn’t handle that very well.”
“Are you kidding? You handled it perfectly. You told me the score before we started this thing. For crying out loud, don’t apologize for doing your job—flawlessly, I might add. I’m sorry for you having to put up with that pig pawing at you all night.” She rubbed Kathryn’s arm. “Did I mention you look incredible?”
Kathryn smiled and took her hand. “Welcome back. You had me worried there for a minute. I was afraid tonight had turned you sour on us.”
Jenny suppressed the urge to jump up and down at Kathryn’s use of the word us. “Well, I was going for aloof, but I’m afraid it’s not as easy as it looks.”
Kathryn chuckled softly, and Jenny welcomed the return of her softer side. She always seemed so perpetually serious, as if the weight of the world was hers and hers alone. For all her poise and beauty, she had a surprising predilection for insecurity. “Did you really think I’d drop you? Just like that? Especially after last night?”
“Well, when you didn’t want to speak with me this afternoon, frankly, I didn’t know what to think.”
“When I didn’t—” Jenny racked her brain trying to remember refusing a conversation, then she recalled the phone call at the office. “Oh, Kat. I thought it was Aunt B.” She took her hand. “I’m so sorry.”
They both had a laugh over the misunderstanding, and after the tension of the night, they both exhaled a sigh of relief. After a few contemplative moments, Jenny directed the conversation toward the newly dubbed us.
“Last night was amazing.”
Kathryn dissolved at the memory. She’d put up a good front all evening, but with one sentence, Jenny brought back the euphoric abandon of the night before.
“I’ll say.”
The feeling terrified her, even as she craved it. This was the wrong time. The wrong person. The evening validated her fear and the struggle ahead, but it didn’t matter. She couldn’t let Jenny go, not after last night.
Seeing her at the benefit had her stomach in knots. She tried unsuccessfully to shield her from Forrester’s view, but once he was aware of her presence, nothing would keep him from the woman he thought was her lover. It wasn’t a lie when she denied it, but now that it was true, she feared what Forrester might do. What Jenny might do.
She was sure Jenny had accepted that Marcus Forrester had nothing to do with her father’s death, but he was a criminal, and once a reporter, always a reporter.
She took slow, measured breaths, trying to conceal her alarm when Forrester approached her, but Jenny was perfect with him—polite, genial, and just aggressive enough to make Forrester respect her without feeling threatened. Kathryn wanted to hug her for her bravery. It made her relax immediately and regain control of herself. She couldn’t wait to spend time alone with Jenny again, to thank her, to touch her, to get lost in that place between reality and blissful oblivion.
When she entered the room and Jenny was so cold, she thought someone else was present, causing her strange behavior. When she said she was alone, jealousy over Forrester was the only explanation, and she was sure Jenny would end their relationship before it even started. A flash of fury caught her off guard, and her defenses kicked in. She would end it before Jenny could. When she was alone again, she would fall to her knees and sob over her loss. As her mind moved through this progression, she didn’t recognize herself. Jenny had done this to her seemingly overnight. And then, with one simple exchange, Jenny was hers again, and so was the longing.
She took Jenny’s face in her hands, peering into eyes glistening with hope, trust, and desire. She looked like Jenny again, young and carefree. She knew she wouldn’t be that way forever, but she sent a word of gratitude to whoever watches over such things and captured her lips before she did something silly, like declare her undying lust and devotion.
Stifled moans filled the room as their hands began exploring familiar territory.
Jenny slid her hand down the back of her scandalously low-cut dress, and in return, Kathryn reached behind Jenny’s neck and undid the catch on her dress straps.
“Wait,” Jenny said as she pulled back, catching her breath and her top. “How long can you be away?”
“Half hour, to be safe.”
“That’ll do,” Jenny said into Kathryn’s waiting mouth.
Kathryn agreed with a muffled chuckle, and then stopped, pushed Jenny away, and froze.
“Ka—”
“Shhh,” Kathryn said in a clipped hiss, her eyes wide and trained on the door.
A key turned in the lock.
Jenny tugged her behind the bar, where they ducked down in the shadows. Unfortunately, the short length of the structure left Kathryn out of the shadow and exposed in the ambient light of the mirror’s reflection. The lower shelf of the bar dug into her back, and Kathryn wondered what she was doing cowering behind a bar. Surely, she could have come up with some reason why she was in the room … in the dark … alone with another woman … partially undressed … wearing each other’s lipstick. Okay, maybe not.
A mature man, by the sound of the voice, let what sounded like a group into the room, and Kathryn lifted her eyes to see her perception confirmed in the mirror, as five men filtered by, single file, none of whom she recognized. Her whole body tensed as she realized if she could see them in the mirror, then they could see her. She cut her eyes to Jenny, hidden in the shadows, and saw that she realized this too. To make matters worse, Kathryn noticed the scotch had been jostled on their swing around the bar and the amber liquid was sloshing frantically from side to side in the tall bottle. She closed her eyes briefly and cursed their situation. It didn’t matter who these men were. No good would come of their discovery. Their only chance was to remain perfectly still and hope against hope that no one wanted to see or drink. Chance, by its nature, proved fickle, as someone turned on the light.
“Turn off that light!” a man barked.
Kathryn and Jenny rolled their eyes with a collective amen, brother.
“Say, what’s the meaning of this, Lawrence?”
“Call it free enterprise.”
“I don’t like this …” another man began nervously, “meeting like this. If we are caught—”
“No one is going to catch us,” Lawrence, the barking man, assured him.
Kathryn watched the liquor in the bottle teeter like the dying pendulum of a clock left unwound until it was still. She was balled up as tight as her dress would allow, knees almost to her chest, one arm holding them close, the other on the floor like a kickstand to keep her from falling over into the room.
“This is madness, Charles,” a voice of reason chimed in.
“Why do we need him?” said someone with more nerve than conviction. “Get rid of him, I say.”
“He’s got the money and the connections and the muscle,” said another.
“We are all wealthy men. If we pooled our resources—”
“Don’t be ridiculous. I want no part of this,” the reasonable man announced with some finality.
Kathryn heard the rustling of the man’s clothes as he stepped to leave and, just as quickly, the movement of Charles Lawrence apparently lunging to stop him.
“Where do you think you’re going? You are part of this.”
“I’ll not be party to betrayal,” he said. “Not when it could cost me my life. Not when we can just stay the course and everything will be fine.”
“Betrayal? It is he who betrays us! Decades of work, and we will just turn it over to the Germans? For what? For profit? So Marc Forrester can buy another company or three?”
Kathryn remained stone still at the mention of Forrester’s name. The men moved further into the room until she could no longer see them in the mirror. She very slowly disengaged her left arm from her knees and inched her hand cautiously toward her purse. Her eyes never left the mirror, prepared to freeze at the slightest indication the men were coming into view.
“I think not,” the irate Lawrence went on.
“We’re collaborating, not capitulating,” the reasonable man said.
“The Germans don’t collaborate. Just ask half of Europe. You’re staying right here, and you’ll do as I say.”
“Are you threatening me?”
“Why, that would be terribly Draconian of me, don’t you think?”
“Get out of my way, Charles.”
The room was silent as the two men jockeyed for the alpha male position. The top of the disgruntled man’s head came into view in the mirror as he began to leave the room.
“Perhaps the university would like to audit their research funding,” Lawrence said. The man stopped and turned. Lawrence continued, “Perhaps the police would like to discover the bodies of your test subjects.”
There was silence again. Kathryn froze with her hand in her purse and her fingers wrapped around the cool pearl grips of her derringer. She only had two shots if she had to use it, but staring down a double barrel with two waiting .38 special slugs at close range might convince them to keep their distance as they made their escape.
“You’re a bastard, Charles.”
“Relax, doctor. We all want the same thing. Have a drink.”
Worried eyes snapped to the liquor bottle in the mirror. All breathing ceased.
“I don’t want a drink,” the man said as he disappeared from view and returned to the others.
Kathryn took the momentary reprieve to pull the gun from her purse, ease off the cross-bolt safety, and wrap her arm back around her knees, her legs thanking her as cramped muscles got a well-deserved breather.
“Then you won’t mind if I do.”
Jenny looked to Kathryn in panic. She wasn’t sure what to do. Her mouth was dry, and her heart was beating so loudly in her ears that she was sure everyone in the room could hear. Kathryn was as still as a statue, no trace of breathing, her eyes trained on the floor, as if lifting them would draw her to the man’s attention. Jenny couldn’t help but look up into the mirror, feeling invisible in the shadows. Lawrence’s red hair came into view first, followed by his pockmarked face and tuxedo-clad shoulders as he stood at the bar and removed the cap from the bottle of scotch. His focus was on the men behind him and the matter at hand, so he barely paid attention to what he was doing.
“He can’t do any of this without us,” Lawrence said, as he poured his drink and quickly turned his back on the bar. “I say we demand a meeting of the contacts and then we take over.”
“Take over what?” the reasonable man argued. “We can’t move forward in the research unless we find the—”
A knock at the door followed by a muffled voice interrupted him. “Room service.”
Jenny watched Kathryn bite off a curse as the man was interrupted, and she realized she hadn’t processed anything the man had said. She was too overwhelmed by fear over what might happen if they got caught. She had a lot to learn about this spy business.
The men stood in tense silence. Lawrence left the bar and, from the sound of it, opened the door a crack.
“I didn’t order room service.”
“Says right here, sir.” He paused. “It’s paid for.” Jenny imagined him holding up the receipt.
“Just leave it there,” Lawrence said, annoyed. The boy evidently didn’t leave. Jenny heard coins jingling. “Here.” Another moment of silence and the door clicked closed.
As soon as the door was shut, the nervous man broke down, “It’s from him. He knows!”
“Quiet, you fool!”
“It’s not safe here,” another man said. “We should disband.”
Jenny silently seconded that.
The room was still. “No one breathes a word of this,” Lawrence finally said. “I’ll contact you soon.”
The men filed out the same way they filed in, with Lawrence bringing up the rear. The door shut, but Kathryn immediately held up her hand, stilling her. Someone exhaled, presumably Lawrence, as he gathered himself before returning to the crowd.
Soon the room was left in silence, the door shut and locked. Jenny didn’t dare move until Kathryn untangled her long legs and struggled to her feet with a groan. She offered her hand, which was gratefully taken.
She casually slipped the gun back into her purse and then brushed off her dress. “Well, that was fun,” she said with a grin.
Jenny didn’t know if Kathryn was being brave for her benefit or was really that unaffected by what had just happened. In any case, she was still just this side of petrified and couldn’t yet manage a response.
“Are you all right?” Kathryn put a gentle hand on her shoulder.
Kathryn’s touch, her silky voice, and confident smile brought comfort instantly, and Jenny knew all would be fine. “Better now,” she said, nodding, gaining confidence. “I’m so glad you got here before they did.”
Kathryn reached behind her neck and did a proper job of securing her dress, which had been haphazardly clasped in their flight behind the bar. “Me too.” She cupped her face. “You okay?”
“Fine. Honest.”
“You did really well tonight, Jenny. Really well.”
Jenny didn’t feel like she did really well, but she took the compliment with a smile and watched Kathryn touch up her smeared lipstick in the mirrored wall. Their kiss seemed like hours ago, their lovemaking an eternity. She wondered when she would see her again, could be alone again, but that was but a fleeting thought in the wake of what had just happened. “Do you know those men, Kat?”
“No, but it’s imperative I find out who they are. Come on.”
Jenny stood in an inconspicuous spot across the hallway from which she’d emerged ten minutes earlier. She knew Kathryn could take care of herself, but when she sent her on ahead to avoid suspicion, she couldn’t help but feel a sense of loss. Jenny never considered herself a codependent sort, but Kathryn had a way of grounding her, of giving her purpose, and she didn’t mind the influence one bit.
Kathryn suddenly emerged, head held high, nonchalant as you please, and Jenny smiled, vowing to learn to be just as professional. Almost immediately, a server came up to Kathryn and directed her to Forrester’s driver, who was milling about aimlessly, looking bored with the whole affair. The server held up a note between them but appeared to just convey the contents, which sent the pair toward the back entrance with separate nods of their heads. This time, Kathryn did turn around. She appeared to be searching for something, someone, and Jenny raised her chin and stared intently enough to draw a lingering glance. Something was wrong. Kathryn was leaving abruptly, and Forrester was nowhere to be seen. Her parting look indicated regret, not danger, and Jenny assumed it was because she hadn’t the chance to uncover more about their surprise guests.
Jenny decided it was her turn to prove her worth, and she began searching the room for her targets.