True Bliss (25 page)

"Come on, Vic," Liberty said. "Let's go."

"Okay, okay," Polly muttered. "Just to keep you happy, we'll all go."

Bliss knew Polly wasn't going to keep anyone happy. Much as she didn't like Vic and Liberty, she was afraid to let them go on their crazy mission alone.

"Liberty holds me. Polly holds Liberty. Fabiola holds Polly. Bliss holds Fabiola."

Fabiola sniggered. "Thank you, Victor. And thank God it's dark out there. If anyone asks if I did this, I'll deny it."

As Vic opened the door, a cool breeze swept in. Dutifully, Bliss fell in at the back of the line and gripped Fab's waist. They stumbled outside, tripping over each other's heels.

"Close the door," Vic hissed. "Now, listen up. I'm going to count to three and on the count of three put your right feet forward. We'll keep a one and two, one and two, pace. Got it?"

"He's lost it," Polly suggested.

"Got it?"

"Got it," they chorused and on Vic's third count, set off.

Polly hummed a conga rhythm and offered, "Dum de dum, de dum—dah!" and almost caused an instant pile-up when she apparently added high-kicks to Vic's routine.

"Shape up," he ordered. "We don't know what we're going to face out here."

"Rockettes watch out," Fabiola said. "Your days are numbered. The Vickettes are on their way."

"Silence!" Vic shouted, then whispered, "Either be quiet or go back. This isn't a joke. We could break our necks out here."

They fell silent and concentrated. Bliss repeatedly scuffled to get back in step. The ground was rough and she prayed none of them would turn an ankle. The moon had taken a vacation, and total darkness fell upon the land.

She heard a whisper too low to make out, then another and another. Finally Fabiola turned and said, very softly, "Remember, if Vic says run, run back. If he gives the word, charge and shout. Pass it back."

"I am the back," Bliss pointed out. "What's the word?"

Fab had already faced forward again.

Bliss could smell the tang of the water. They emerged from the rough circle of cabins onto the open, downhill slope of ground in the middle of the estate. The going only became rougher.

A whisper started again and quickly arrived at Bliss. "Liberty's scared."

"Why?" she asked. "Does Vic see something?"

The question made its way downstream.

Back came the answer, "He said shut up and stay behind him."

"Chauvinist," Bliss mumbled. "I'd like to throw him to Prue for about five minutes."

Fab stopped abruptly and Bliss bumped into her. For an instant there was silence, except for the sound of heavy breathing, then Vic yelled, "Shit!"

The line broke. Bliss felt movement all about her. The others shouted and she saw their shapes moving, their arms flailing. She couldn't make out what they were attacking.

"Stop it!" Vic's howl rose above the ruckus. The flashlight clicked on and he shone the beam over the group. "Stand still, will you?"

Rather than run forward, each one had chosen a spot where they could jump up and down in place.

"Women!" Derision loaded Vic's voice. "You think this is funny, don't you? A farce? You should see yourselves."

"You said the word," Polly protested.

"I stubbed my friggin' toe, you idiot," Vic told her. "But look at that. Maybe you won't laugh so hard."

The flashlight beam picked up what looked like a long, thin white streamer trailing in the breeze.

Bliss wiped at her misted glasses and moved cautiously closer. They were within feet of the barbed wire surrounding the hole. "Good grief, Vic. One of us could have been badly hurt if we'd run into that."

He didn't apologize. "Maybe someone's already been badly hurt."

"Ooh," Liberty moaned. "Some poor soul is down the hole."

"Not unless they managed to get over or under the wire, work the cover off, then jump and still manage to pull the concrete back over them."

"Someone else could have done it to them," Vic said, somber.

"And hung around long enough to secure the wire again," Bliss pointed out, indicating the stakes that were still in place. "Not very likely."

Vic prided himself on his single-mindedness. "Regardless, I don't like the look of this."

"What is that?" Bliss asked, pushing past him and catching the trailing white stuff. She pulled it from the wire. "Shine the flashlight on this."

Barking distracted her. "Is that Spike?"

"Sounds like a pack of wolves on the loose," Vic responded. "Coming this way."

They all drew close together. Bliss was chilly in her silk dress and already shivered. The uproar from the animals raised goose-bumps all over her body.

Not a pack, but two dogs burst into the beam of Vic's flash-

light, one big dog—Spike—and one huge dog resembling an English sheepdog with a long, dark snout.

Liberty shrieked and threw herself at Vic.

Polly grabbed for Spike.

"It's a St. Bernard," Fab said. "Probably got a tinkly little bell around its neck instead of booze."

"It's Beater," a cool, very familiar voice said, and Sebastian emerged from the darkness. "And he's in love. What's going on here?"

She wanted to see him, yet she couldn't stand to see him. This was the kind of emotional mess she'd avoided for a long time. She would never be ready to cope with it again—certainly not with the intensity of her every reaction to Sebastian.

"Bliss," he said sharply, looming over her. "I asked what's going on here."

He was accustomed to taking command and it showed. "You don't want to know," she told him.

"If that was the case, I wouldn't have asked."

The dogs chased each other in circles, their yips and barks joyful.

"Spike hates other dogs," Fab said.

Sebastian looked over his shoulder at the animals. "You could have fooled me."

"I take it the other dog's yours," Bliss said.

"Yeah," he told her. "Beater. Man's best friend."

"You said it."

He didn't retaliate. "There's been a problem here?"

"Vic and Liberty heard someone cry out. We were checking around. This is the hole—the one the Point's named for. We thought—some of us were afraid someone might have fallen down there."

"Did they?"

"You never did have a subtle way with words," she said quietly. "Take a look and tell me what you think."

He held out his hand to Vic and said, "May I?" The other man silently gave up his flashlight.

Sebastian inspected the deep metal spikes that secured the wire, then he shone the beam on the concrete hatch, and on the surrounding ground. "This hasn't been moved," he said. "Whatever you think you heard, it wasn't anything to do with someone falling down there."

"Gee, thanks," Vic said, his voice laden with sarcasm and dislike. "Always nice to run up against a man who knows how to take charge."

"Think nothing of it," Sebastian said. "Call anytime. It's about time you were all in your beds."

They trudged uphill with Vic muttering every inch of the way. He and Liberty peeled off at Vic's cabin. Polly and Fabiola continued on to the lodge where Venus awaited them in the front doorway.

"Okay, Mom," Polly said. "Let's get you and Bobby back to the bungalow."

"I told this charming man where you were," Venus said, looking at Sebastian with obvious approval. "He's deep, very deep. A man gifted with advanced intuitive powers possessed by few."

"You told him where we were?" Fab said. "Without even knowing who he was, you told a perfect stranger where we were when you knew we were on the hunt for a marauder."

"You didn't find a marauder, did you?" Venus said, sounding triumphant. "How could you when the sounds came from the other side."

Polly gripped Fab's arm and shook her head to silence her sister. "Drop it," she said. "Come on, Mom. Let's take Bobby."

"Poor angel's asleep on the sofabed in there," Venus said, sighing. "Really, it isn't right to disturb a young spirit so often. He'll become disoriented."

"We're all disoriented," Bliss said, grimly, walked past Venus and into the lodge. "Shh. Bobby's asleep." A small lamp showed him curled in a bump in one corner of a queen-sized sofabed.

"I told you he was asleep," Venus said, sounding aggrieved. "And I knew this lovely man was a noble soul. I felt it. Deeply

noble, deeply honorable—and available?" She smiled at Sebastian through her apple green veil.

"Mom!" Fab and Polly moaned in unison.

Sebastian said, "Thank you, ma'am," with laughter in his voice. "Is that Bobby? The little boy who watched Beater for me?"

"Yes—"

"Nice kid," Sebastian said, interrupting Bliss. "Let him sleep. I'll stay down here with him. He'll be okay until the morning."

"Well—"

"You've got my word he'll be safe," Sebastian assured Polly. "You two ladies run along with your Mom."

"Venus," Venus said. "Call me Venus. I am love manifested to all people."

"Right," Sebastian said, his face devoid of expression. "Bliss and I will return Bobby in the morning."

Bliss didn't trust herself to look at Polly and Fabiola.

"I'm sure that'll be very domestic," Fabiola said, her tone serene.

Polly added, "Just make sure you don't forget Bobby's here."

"It won't be the first time he's slept over—with me," Bliss said pointedly, staring at Sebastian. Why couldn't she suddenly find him repulsive? "You'd better make sure you take your dog with you when you leave."

"Oh, I will," he said, his smile warm enough to melt buttons, if Bliss had been wearing any. "All I have to do is whistle and he'll come running."

"I imagine all you have to do is whistle for anyone to come running," Fabiola said.

" 'Night, Fab," Bliss said. "See you bright and early."

"Bright and early," Polly said. She smiled crookedly and shepherded her mother and sister from the lodge.

When the door closed, silence folded about the room, silence filled with sensation, with connections Bliss felt to Sebastian. She felt him as surely as if he touched her.

"Tired?" he asked.

She indicated Bobby and put a finger to her mouth.

"If that wild troupe didn't wake him, nothing will."

"They're a great troupe," she said defensively. "A little unusual, but great."

"If you say so, Chilly."

"I hated that name."

"Do you hate it when I call you Chilly?"

Small talk to fill in the empty spots. "I don't hate anything you call me." Bliss swung away. Her mouth had always had a way of betraying her with Sebastian.

"You ran away from me again tonight."

She pulled off her glasses.

"A man could get a complex about a thing like that. Especially on this night, of all nights. I'm never going to forget the first time we made love."

Her heart turned, and her stomach followed. "Neither am I. We shouldn't talk in front of Bobby."

"He's asleep."

"Just in case."

"Okay—we'll go upstairs."

She shook her head. "You should go home. I'll be here when he wakes up so he's not scared."

"I'm not going home."

"Sebastian—"

"No. I belong with you. You got a bad scare at the Wilmans' and we're going to discuss that. I think there may be things we need to keep a watch out for."

"Like what?"

"Like the possibility that someone may be trying to make sure we never get together."

This time her heart seemed to stop altogether. "I know. But I'm confused."

"Tell me about confused."

Tell him she'd wondered, at least for a moment, if Sebastian himself had tried to frighten her in the conservatory?

"Why did you refuse to let me bring you home?"

"I needed to think. On my own."

"And what did you decide."

"I didn't. Why did you come here when I told you not to follow me."

He settled a hand on her back. "I went home first"

"You should have stayed there."

"I planned to."

"What changed your mind?"

"You don't want to know." He cleared his throat. "It's only fair for me to warn you that I'm potentially dangerous to your health."

Laughing when she felt like crying, Bliss turned toward him. "Do you think you have to tell me that?"

"Yes." His face was absolutely serious. "I think I'd convinced myself certain problems had gone away. They haven't. Bliss, I need to keep you where I can watch you."

The next flip in her stomach wasn't pleasant. "What do you mean by that?"

"I'm not sure. You told me earlier that you've been warned to stay away from me twice."

She nodded.

"Once here, and tonight. But tonight the guy got physical."

"Yes." The kind of physical she didn't want to think about.

"What exactly did I walk into when I arrived here?"

Bobby rolled over. "This will have to wait," Bliss said. "I don't want him to wake up."

He looked down at her mouth.

Bliss moistened her lips.

Sebastian bent toward her.

"Bobby!"—she backed away—"You'd better go before Bobby wakes up."

"I'm not leaving you alone here."

"I'm not alone."

"You know what I mean." He glanced at the boy. "He likes men."

The change of subject threw her.

"I felt that in him that first day."

"He's never really known his father," Bliss said. "He's the nicest boy. I love him."

Sebastian turned back to her. "You've got a lot of love to give, sweetheart."

"Go home, Sebastian."

Rather than make any move to do as she asked, he took off the dark green windbreaker he'd put on over the same shirt and suit pants he'd worn earlier. "Go on up to bed. I'll be comfortable here."

"No," Bliss told him. "Absolutely not. Bobby would be scared if he woke up with a stranger."

"He won't be scared. Take it from me, he'll like waking up and finding me here."

"You can't know that."

"Go on up to bed, Bliss. See you in the morning."

"Where will you sleep?"

"I'm great at recliners, remember?"

"Okay." Arguing had become too strenuous. "Have it your way. You'll call me if Bobby wakes up and he's scared?"