He grinned. “After the fire here, I got to replant a lot of Chen Lu’s garden. I kind of feel as if it’s mine. I like being at Hu Chang’s shop and lab, too. But it’s different.”
“Every place is different.” She wanted to reach out and hug him, hold him. “We just have to enjoy what we can wherever we are at any given time.”
His smile faded. “Hu Chang said that you would have come sooner but that your friend, Eve Duncan, was in trouble, and you had to help her. Is she okay now?”
She nodded. “She’s home and safe. But I had to stay and find her.” She moistened her lips. “I wanted to come right here to you, but she helped me when I needed to find you, Luke. I couldn’t let her down.”
“I know that. I like Eve.” He was silent. “If you’d told me, I would have come to search for her, too.”
“That was my job.” She smiled. “You’re just a kid, Luke. Wait a few years.”
“I don’t feel like a kid.” He frowned. “I guess I don’t know what that would be like.”
“I know you don’t.” That had probably been the wrong thing to say. The rough life he had lived had burned the childhood out of him. Occasionally, she saw flashes of it that she celebrated, but they were rare. “And I hate it that I can’t give that back to you.”
“Why? You can’t miss what you’ve never had. Hu Chang says that you grew up on the streets, and that doesn’t sound much better.”
“I was free, you were a prisoner.”
“There is no use arguing with her, Luke.” Hu Chang was getting out of the boat and strolling toward them. “She grew so accustomed to feeling guilty that she couldn’t save you that she’s not reasonable on the subject.”
“I’m completely reasonable.” Luke and Hu Chang were exchanging glances, and Luke was smiling, she realized with a pang. There was a closeness, an intimacy between them that was shutting her out. “And you both realize there are differences in—”
“Catherine.” Luke chuckled as he took a step forward and took her hand. “I can’t realize the difference. It’s hard for me to imagine your running around Hong Kong, hunting for food, and just trying to stay alive. I can only think of you strong and beautiful, the way you are now.”
“I have no trouble imagining your life when you were with Rakovac.” Her hand closed tightly, lovingly, on Luke’s. He had made the first physical move, so she felt safe about responding. He wouldn’t think that she was demanding more than he wanted to give. “But I don’t like to remember it.”
“I don’t mind remembering Rakovac,” Luke said. “I never let him win after I got old enough to fight him.” He added fiercely, “And I like to think about your killing him. I wish I could have seen it.”
“Luke, that’s not the thing to say to make Catherine feel better about the normalcy she evidently wants for you.” Hu Chang was ushering them toward the ornate golden gates that led to the front door. “Though I agree in your case she gave you a gift beyond price.” He nodded at the servant who swung open the gates. “Come along. Is Chen Lu waiting in the garden, Luke?”
Luke nodded. “She wanted to show Catherine how much all the plants have grown since she was here.”
“I thought as much. You take her along to Chen Lu.” He fell back and took out his phone. “I’ll join you later. I have a few arrangements to make.”
Catherine stiffened, her gaze flying to his face. She knew what that meant. He was getting ready to move. She had hoped to have more time to persuade him. How much time did she still have? “You’ll join us for dinner?”
He smiled. “Of course.”
There was no “of course” about it, she thought grimly. But he wouldn’t lie to her. “We’ll see you then.” She let Luke lead her toward the magnificent palace gardens. “Are the plantings as wonderful as Chen Lu thinks, Luke? There hasn’t been that much time for growth. Those acres of wonderful trees and plants were a blackened ruin only months ago.”
“They’re much better now.” His tone was distracted. “Hu Chang and I have been working in his lab on a special fertilizer. It’s pretty good.”
“You didn’t tell me.”
“It was going to be a surprise.” He looked over his shoulder at Hu Chang. “You’re worried about him. What’s happening?”
“I’m not really worried as much as—” She met his gaze. Her first instinct was to protect him, but that instinct was wrong. Not by lying to him. From the moment she’d gotten him back, she’d promised she’d always be honest with him. It was the only way their relationship had a chance of surviving. “Hu Chang has a friend who is in danger, and he’s thinking about going to help her.”
“Are you going with him?”
“No,” she said quickly. “I wouldn’t do that.”
“Why not? You told me once that being CIA is something like being a soldier. Isn’t it your job?”
“No, it’s not. And Hu Chang doesn’t want me to go.”
He thought for a moment. “Then I think I’ll go with him.”
“No!”
“Why not? Hu Chang’s not like you. He wouldn’t be afraid of anything’s happening to me. He knows that I can take care of myself.”
And Catherine knew that, too. He’d been forced to learn how to survive in the guerrilla warfare into which Rakovac had deliberately thrust him. It just hurt her to even think of subjecting him to anything resembling that again. “Luke, Hu Chang wants to do this alone. And I don’t want him to go at all. I’ll try to talk him out of it.”
“Can you do it?” He slowly shook his head. “I don’t think so.”
She didn’t think so either, and she was starting to feel the beginning of panic. She felt backed into a corner. She was frightened to death that Hu Chang would disappear into those damn mountains. Now, she was afraid that Luke would find a way to try to go after him. She had seen the strong bond that had formed between them.
Hu Chang’s not like you.
No, he wasn’t. He didn’t agonize, he accepted. And she knew the fascination Hu Chang could weave when he chose. He would not take Luke with him, but that didn’t mean Luke wouldn’t follow.
“I’ll work it out.” She had no choice. Like it or not, she had been tossed in the middle of this brouhaha. “Trust me, Luke.”
“I will,” Luke said gravely. “And will you trust me, Catherine?”
She looked at him in surprise. There was something beyond the obvious in that question. What exactly did he mean?
“There’s Chen Lu.” Luke had looked away from her as they went around the corner.
Chen Lu was sitting on a bench in the garden. Pure white hair framed a face that was youthful, vivacious, and full of vitality and didn’t look a day over forty. She was dressed as usual in a magnificent silk caftan, and she jumped to her feet with a broad smile. “Catherine. Welcome. At last an audience that can appreciate my garden.” She still had a strong Irish accent in spite of her years in Hong Kong, and her eyes were sparkling with humor. “Hu Chang and Luke just dumped their noxious brew into the ground and took off back to the city to their lab.” She threw out her arm. “You remember how blackened and burnt-out it was. All my beautiful roses and tropical plants … I thought it would take years.” She shook her head. “New life. Resurrection.”
“Yes, it’s beautiful.” Catherine was stunned as she looked around the huge acreage. She had been here when the replanting had taken place. In spite of all the money Chen Lu had put into the rebirth of her precious garden, Catherine, too, had thought it would take years. But the plants appeared to be surprisingly mature, and the blooms were vivid and splendidly healthy. “Wonderful.” She turned to Luke. “Noxious brew? Oh, that special fertilizer?”
“Hu Chang had an idea for a better fertilizer than Chen Lu’s gardeners had put down.” Luke smiled proudly. “He let me help create it. He said I did well.”
“Yes, you did.” Chen Lu chuckled. “My gardeners were stunned when they saw what my roses were doing a week later.” She pulled Catherine to the bench. “Sit down and enjoy the scents. You look as if you need to just relax for a while.” She turned to Luke. “Would you run and tell the cook we’ll be ready to eat in an hour and a half?”