Нора Робертс - Key of Knowledge

She could still hate him for it, but she had to respect the fact that he acknowledged it.

She had to bear down hard just to cross the threshold into the bathroom. It gave her the willies to see the book still floating, bloated with water, in the tub.

It was symbolic, she thought, that hed invaded this most personal of rooms. It told her there was no place that she would be completely safe until the key was found or the month was over.

She pulled the plug, watched the water begin to drain.

“Just have to deal,” she ordered. “And it wont be so easy to scare me next time. Ill deal with you. With Jordan. With myself. Because I learned one more thing tonight. Goddamn it, Im still in love with the jerk.”

It didnt make her feel any better to say it out loud, but it did help to put her bathroom to rights again. Her apartment, her things, her life, she thought as she went into the bedroom.

As far as Jordan was concerned, it was much more likely that it was the memory she still loved. The boy, the young, wounded man whod been her first love. Didnt every woman have a soft spot for her first true love?

She settled on the bed, took her bed book out of the nightstand drawer. The paperback she kept there was only a front. The one she opened was Cold Case , by Jordan Hawke.

Wouldnt he crow if he knew she was reading his latest book? Worse, if he knew she was enjoying every damn word.

Maybe she was still in love with the memory of the boy, but she would rather eat live slugs than have the man discover that shed read every one of his books.

Twice.

THEY started work on the porch, taking advantage of the fine fall weather andZoes experience.

By unanimous agreement, Dana and Malory had elected her the goddess of remodel. In their oldest clothes, and with new tools for Dana and Malory, they worked atZoes direction prepping the porch for paint.

“I didnt know it would be so much work.” Malory sat back on her heels and examined her nails. “Ive ruined my manicure. And you just gave it to me a couple of days ago,” she remindedZoe .

“Ill give you another. If we dont scrape and sand off the peeling paint, the new paint wont stick right. It needs a good, smooth, porous surface, or well be doing this again in the spring.”

“We bow to you,” Dana toldZoe , and watched her wield the little electric sander. “I always thought you just sort of slopped the paint on, then waited for it to dry.”

“That kind of thinking is why you bow to me.”

“Its already gone to her head,” Dana grumbled and attacked curls of peeling paint with her scraper.

“I wouldnt mind having a little crown, something delicate and tasteful.” Even as she spoke,Zoe kept one eye on her underlings. “Its going to look great. Youll see.”

“Why dont you entertain us during the drudgery?” Malory suggested. “Tell us about dinner with Brad last night.”

“It was no big deal. He just played some video games with Simon, ate, then left. I shouldnt have gotten so worked up about it. I just havent had a guy over in a while. And Im not used to cooking for millionaires. I felt like I needed finger bowls or something.” “Brads not like that,” Dana protested. “A guy with money can still be normal. Brad used to eat at our place all the time when we were kids. And we hardly ever used the finger bowls.”

“Its not the same. We didnt grow up together, for one thing. And your family and his have more in common. A hairdresser who grew up in a trailer in West Virginia doesnt have a lot to say to the heir to an American empire.”

“Youre not being fair to him, or yourself,” Malory told her.

“Maybe not. Just realistic. Anyway, he makes me nervous. I guess its not only the money, really. Jordan has money, he must with all those bestsellers. But he doesnt make me so nervous. We had a nice, easy time together when he came over and fixed my car.”

Dana lost her rhythm and ended up with a splinter in her thumb. “Your car?” Scowling, she sucked viciously at the thumb. “Jordan fixed your car?”

“Yeah. I didnt know he used to work on cars. He really knows his way around an engine, too. He just came by the other afternoon with all these tools and said why didnt he have a look at my car for me. It was really sweet of him.”

“Hes just a big sugar cookie,” Dana said with a smile that clamped her teeth together.

“Oh, dont be like that, Dana.”Zoe switched off the sander, angled her head. “He didnt have to bother, and he spent over two hours messing with it, and wouldnt take anything but two glasses of iced tea.”

“I bet he ogled your ass when you walked in the house to get it.”

“Maybe.”Zoe worked hard to keep her face sober. “But only in a healthy, friend-of-the-family sort of way. A small price to pay for saving me another trip to the garage. And the fact is, my car hasnt run this well since I bought it. Actually, it didnt run this well then, either.”

“Yeah, he always was good with cars.” And generous with his time, Dana was forced to admit. “Youre right, it was considerate.”

“And sweet,” Malory added with a meaningful look at Dana.

“And sweet,” she mumbled.

“He let Simon hang around him when he got home from school, too.”Zoe flipped the sander back on, bent to her work. “Its fun to see Simon pal around with a man. I guess I have to say Bradley was nice to Simon too, and I appreciate that.”

“So neither of them put the moves on Simons mother?” Dana wanted to know. “No.” With a half laugh,Zoe scooted farther down the porch. “Of course not. Jordan was just doing a favor for a friend, and Bradley… its not like that.”

Danas opinion was a long hmmm as she got back to work.

By lunchtime the porch was sufficiently prepped to passZoes inspection. They gave their tired muscles a rest and sat on the sanded boards eating tuna sandwiches.

With a mornings work behind them, the sun bright, and the mood mellow, Dana decided it was time to tell them her experience of the night before.

“So… I had a little run-in with Kane last night.”

Malory choked, grabbed for her bottle of water. “What? What ? Weve been here for over three hours, and youre just getting around to telling us that?”

“I didnt want to start off the morning with it. I knew wed all get freaked again.”

“Youre okay?”Zoe laid a hand on Danas arm. “Youre not hurt or anything?”

“No, but Ive got to tell you, the little brush I had with him before was nothing compared to this. I knew what happened with you, Mal, but I still didnt get it. I do now.”

“Tell us.“ Malory shifted so she andZoe flanked Dana.

It was easier this time. She was able to relate the experience more calmly and with more detail than shed done with Jordan. Still, her voice shook at times, and she had to reach for her Thermos of coffee, sip slowly to ease her throat.

“You couldve drowned.”Zoe put her arm around Danas shoulder. “In the tub.”

“I wondered about that. But I dont think so. If he could just, well, eliminate us, why not have us walk off a cliff, or step in front of a truck? Something like that.”

“Boy, thats really cheery.”Zoe stared out at the street, nearly winced when a car drove by. “Im so glad you mentioned it.”

“Come on. Seriously. It seems to me he can only go so far. Like it was with Malory. It comes down to us making a choice—to reaching down inside, holding on to enough of ourselves to recognize the illusion and reject it.”

“But he hurt you just the same,”Zoe pointed out.

“Oh, man.” Remembering, Dana rubbed a hand over her heart. “Ill say. Even if the pain was an illusion, it did the job. Worse than the pain was knowing what the pain meant, then the fear that he could take that from me.”

“You shouldve called.” There was as much exasperation as concern in Malorys voice. “Dana, you should have called me, orZoe . Both of us. I know what its like to be caught in one of those illusions. You didnt have to be alone.”

“I wasnt. Exactly. Afterward, I mean. I was going to call. In fact, I think I was just going to stand in the bedroom and scream for both of you, but then Jordan knocked on the door.”

“Oh.”

Dana stared at Malory. “Theres no „oh in that meaningful tone. He just happened to be there at a moment when Id have welcomed a visit from a two-headed dwarf as long as he could chase the bogeyman away.”

“Funny coincidence, though,” Malory said with a flutter of lashes. “I mean when you figure the elements of fate and destiny and connections.”

“Look, just because youre all mush-brained over Flynn, dont assume the rest of the world has to fall in line. He came by, and he behaved very decently. At first.”

“Lets hear about at second, then,”Zoe insisted.

“Unlike Brad, apparently, Jordan rarely hesitates to make his move. He cornered me in the kitchen.”

“Really?” Malory gave a sigh. “The first time Flynn kissed me was in the kitchen.”

“Anyway, Im going out with him Saturday night.” She waited, then scowled when no one spoke. “Well?”

Zoebraced her elbow on her thigh, propped her chin on her fist. “I was just thinking that itd be nice if the two of you could at least be friends again. And that maybe, from an entirely different perspective, becoming friends again is part of what you have to do to find the key.”

“I think I need to get into this a little more before I start multitasking. I dont know if I can be friends with Jordan again, because… Im still sort of in love with him.”

“Dana.” Malory took her hand, but Dana broke free, pushed off the steps.

“I dont know if Im still in love—more or less—with himhim , or with the him that I fell for all that time ago. You know, like this memory of him. This image, and its no more than an illusion now. But Ive got to find out, dont I?”

“Yeah.”Zoe unwrapped the brownies shed brought along and held one out to Dana. “You need to find out.”

“And if I am in love with him, I can get over it.” She took a huge bite of brownie. “I got over it before. If Im not in love with him, then everything gets back to normal or as back to normal as possible until I find the key.”

“What about his feelings?” Malory asked her. “Arent they a factor?”

“He had it his way once. This time around its my way.” She rolled her shoulders, pleased that the weight seemed to shrug off with the statement. “Lets paint our porch.”

* * *

WHILE they broke out brushes and rollers, Jordan relayed Danas experience to Flynn and Brad.

They sat in Flynns living room, set up as an informal think tank. Jordan paced as he spoke, and Flynns dog, Moe, watched every movement in hopes that Jordan might detour to the kitchen, and cookies.

Now and again, if Jordans direction veered closer to the doorway, Moes big black tail would thump in anticipation. So far it hadnt netted him any treats, but it did get him a few rubs on the back with Flynns foot.

“Why the hell didnt you bring her back here?” Flynn demanded.

“I guess I could have. If Id knocked her unconscious and hog-tied her. This is Dana were talking about.”

“Okay, okay, point taken. You couldve told me all this last night.”

“I couldve—and youd have rushed over there. Which wouldve annoyed her. Youd have tried to make her come here, which would have meant the two of you wouldve ended up fighting. I just figured shed had enough for one night. Added to that, I wanted to tell you both about it at once, when Malory wasnt around.”

“Now that we do know,” Brad put in, “what do we do about it?”

“There you go.” Jordan walked back to the couch, and burst Moes cookie fantasy by sitting down on the crate that served as coffee table. “We cant get her, or any of them, out of this. Even if we could, I dont know if we should. Theres a lot at stake.”

“Three souls,” Brad murmured. “I dont think Ive adjusted to that yet. Even knowing what happened with Malory, it doesnt compute in my head. But Ill go along with this. We cant get them out of it. So the question comes down to two parts. What can we do to keep them safe, and how do we help them find the key?”

“We make sure none of them is alone any more than necessary,” Flynn began. “Even though we know that he got to Malory when she was with Dana andZoe , its a precaution we ought to take.”

“She wont move in here, Flynn. I offered to move out, and she still wouldnt go for it.” Absently Jordan rubbed his chin, reminding himself that he hadnt shaved. “But one of us could move into her place. At least stay there with her at night.”