LITMIR.BIZ

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onto the counter by the stove, producing the missing wristwatch. “Here. This was still on your wrist and almost unfastened when I found you. I stuck it in my robe pocket and didn’t notice it until this morning when I started to put the robe in the laundry. Good thing I didn’t wash it,” she laughed. “However do you tell time with something so complicated?”

      She didn’t recognize a diver’s watch. Did that mean she didn’t realize how expensive it was?

      He took it from her. “Thanks,” he said slowly.

      “It still works, doesn’t it?” she asked idly as she ate her eggs. “I didn’t know they made waterproof watches.”

      “It’s a diver’s watch,” he informed her, and then waited for her reaction.

      “I see. Do you skin-dive?” she asked brightly.

      He did, occasionally, when he wasn’t sailing his yacht. He didn’t want to mention that. “Sometimes,” he said.

      “I wanted to learn, but I’m too afraid of water,” she told him. “I can’t even swim properly.”

      “Then why have a beach house?” he asked curiously. “Or isn’t it yours?”

      She saw the way he was looking at her and interpreted it correctly. That watch wasn’t cheap, and he’d apparently remembered more than he wanted her to know. So he thought she was a gold digger, did he? She was going to enjoy this.

      “Well, no, it belongs to…” She stopped suddenly, not wanting to give too much away. His face was all too familiar, more so this morning. “It belongs to the man who owns this place. He lets me stay here when I like.”

      He glanced around and his expression spoke volumes.

      “The hurricane got it,” she said quickly. “He hasn’t had time to do many repairs.” That, at least, was true. But it didn’t sound that way to her guest. In fact, he looked even more suspicious.

      He didn’t say anything else. He concentrated on the meal Nikki had prepared. His dark eyes slid over her pretty face and narrowed.

      “What’s your name?” he asked curiously.

      “Nikki,” she replied. Even if he knew of her family, he wouldn’t know of the nickname, which was used only by family and very close friends. “Do you remember yours?”

      He studied her thoughtfully while he wavered between the truth and a lie. She was obviously a transient here, in her boyfriend’s house. He was new to the area. It was highly unlikely that she’d even know who he was if he introduced himself honestly. He kept a low profile. In his income bracket, it paid to do that.

      He laughed at his own caution. This woman probably didn’t even know what the CEO of a corporation was. “It’s McKane,” he said offhandedly. “But I’m usually called Kane.”

      Fortunately, Nikki had her eyes on her coffee cup. She didn’t show it, but inside she panicked. The familiar face she couldn’t place before now leaped into her consciousness vividly. She knew that name all too well, and now she remembered where she’d seen the face, in a business magazine of Clayton’s. Kane Lombard was reclusive to the point of being a hermit, and the photograph of him had been a rarity for such a successful businessman.

      Her brother had just had a very disturbing run-in with Kane Lombard over an environmental issue in Charleston. Lombard, she knew, was backing the leading Democratic contender for Clayton’s House seat.

      Her mind worked rapidly. She didn’t dare let Lombard know who she was, now. They’d spent the night together, albeit innocently. Wouldn’t that tidbit do Clayton a lot of good in a national election? In some parts of the country, especially this one, morality was still enough to make or break a politician; even his sister’s morality. And Lombard was helping the opposition.

      Her fingers closed around her coffee cup and she lifted her eyes with a schooled expression on her face. Everything would be all right. All she had to do was ease him out of here without letting on that she knew him. Since he didn’t travel in the same circles as Clayton and herself, chances were good that she’d never see him up close again anyway.

      “It’s a nice name. I like it.” She smiled as if she genuinely didn’t recognize him.

      He relaxed visibly. His firm mouth tugged into a smile. “Thanks for taking care of me,” he added. “It’s been a long time since anyone had to do that.”

      “Nobody’s invulnerable,” she reminded him. “But next time, you might check that there aren’t any rocks around when you decide to use the Jet Ski.”

      “I’ll do that.”

      He finished his coffee and reluctantly, she thought, got to his feet. “I’ll return your friend’s clothes. Thanks for the loan.”

      “I can run you home, if you like,” she offered, knowing full well that he wouldn’t risk letting her see where he lived. He thought she was an opportunist. She could have laughed out loud at the very idea.

      “No, thanks,” he said quickly, smiling to soften the rejection. “I need the exercise. You’ve been very kind.” His eyes were shrewd. “I hope I can repay you one day.”

      “Oh, that’s not necessary,” she assured him as she stood. “Don’t we all have a moral duty to help each other out when we’re in need?” She looked at her slender, well-kept hands. “I’m sure you’d do the same for me.”

      That last bit was meant to rattle him, but it didn’t work. She looked up, impishly, and he was just watching her with a lifted eyebrow and a faintly indulgent smile.

      “Of course I would,” he assured her. But he was wary again, looking for traps, even while his eyes were quietly bold on her soft curves.

      “It was nice meeting you,” she added.

      “Same here.” He gave her a last wistful appraisal and went with long, determined strides toward the front door. He walked as if he’d go right over anything in his path, and Nikki envied him that self-confidence. She had it, to a degree, but in a standing fight, he was going to be a hard man to beat. She’d have to remember and warn Clayton not to underestimate Lombard; and do it without revealing that the source of her information was the man himself.

      

      The rambling beach house where Kane lived was in the same immaculate shape he’d left it. His housekeeper had been in, apparently unconcerned that he was missing. That shouldn’t surprise him. Unless he paid people, no one seemed to notice if he lived or died.

      He chided himself for that cynical thought. Women did agonize over him from time to time. He had a mistress who pretended to care in return for the expensive presents he gave her with careless affection. But no one cared as much as his son had. He closed his eyes and tried not to remember the horror of his last sight of the young boy.

      There was a portrait of his son with his late wife on the side table. He looked at that, instead, remembering David as a bright young man with his mother’s light hair and eyes and her smile. Although he and Evelyn had grown apart over their years together, David had been loved and cherished by both of them. See what you get for sticking your nose in where it doesn’t belong, he thought. Just a routine business trip, you said, and they could go with you. Then all hell broke loose the day they arrived, and he and his family were caught innocently in the cross fire.

      He’d blamed himself bitterly for all of it, but time was taking away some of the sting. He had to go on, after all.

      The new automotive plant in an industrial Charleston suburb had certainly been a step in the right direction. Planned long before the death of his family, it had just begun operation about the time they were buried. Now it was the lynchpin of his sanity.

      He changed into a knit shirt and shorts, idly placing his borrowed clothing to be washed before he returned it. Nikki’s sparkling green eyes came to mind and made him smile. She was so young, he mused, and probably

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