It still sounded plausible. And she told you how to find us.’
He shrugged. ‘She said you’d probably go by Murphy,
O’Brien, or Ortiz, and that it should be easy to find a Deirdre, Elizabeth, and Moira in the same place.’ She thought he smiled. ‘It wasn’t, but I managed.’
‘Have you talked to her since you found us?’
‘Just to tell her I had. She asked me to call her after I talk to you.’
‘Where?’
‘Her cell phone. In Santa Fe.’
But Xan wasn’t in Santa Fe. Dee didn’t know how she knew that, but she did. Xan had used Danny as a stalking horse. And just like twice before, she was now coming for them.
‘And exactly why would you name your bike after her, Danny? Bikes are very personal. They’re… they’re…’
‘Sexual substitutes?’ He fingered the loose curls by her temple. ‘I guess it was the sound of her voice. Throaty and sexy, like a bike engine. Just a whisper, so you had to really listen closely, ya know?’
Dee pulled away from his fingers, but she didn’t get up. ‘Yeah. I know.’
She wondered just what it was Xan had whispered. There was no way she wouldn’t have known how sexy Danny James was.
‘Xantippe said that there’s a breach between you she’s been trying to heal,’ Danny said. ‘She sounded upset.’
Dee’s laugh was hoarse. ‘She doesn’t want to heal anything. And she’s not upset.’
‘Then what is she?’
No, this she couldn’t deal with sitting down. Climbing to her feet, she walked to the edge of the circle, where violets clotted the grass and the sky seemed endless. Beyond the cliff, the river reflected a sporadic moon, and the town faded into geometric shadows. It was what she was painting right now.
Dee pulled in a deep breath. How to explain Xan to this seemingly normal, wholesome man? She’s Maleficent and
Marilyn Monroe. She’s a carnivore masquerading as a flower. She’s every man’s fantasy and every woman’s nightmare. Corrupt, clever, and concupiscent. Xan feeds off people like a vampire, and gets them to smile as she does it.
But if Danny James was telling the truth, he’d never understand.
‘Xan is the person who orchestrated my parents’ downfall,’ Dee finally said, shoving her hands in her pockets. ‘My father wasn’t the one who created that donation program they all skimmed off of. It was Xan. My father wasn’t that clever. Xan made a fortune nobody ever traced and conveniently disappeared about a month before the feds arrived with the warrants.’ Then reappeared just in time to murder her own sister.
‘You’re sure?’
She smiled out into the night. ‘Oh, yes. I’m sure.’
She heard Danny climb to his feet and approach. She didn’t turn away from the view. The evening star had just winked on and she made her instinctive wish. Let us be safe. Danny came to stand right behind her and laid his hands on her shoulders.
‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘I didn’t know.’
Dee found herself fighting tears. ‘Yeah. I’m sorry, too.’
She’d grown to love this nondescript little valley, this camouflaged altar. She didn’t want to leave. Danny James had left her no choice.
‘I’d like to hear your side of the story,’ he said. ‘I’m sure I’ll get your aunt’s.’
Dee turned to face him and realized he was too close. So she stepped away from his touch, where she could have enough space to better appraise him. He looked so open. So true. Was he that clever, or was he so honorable he hadn’t been able to see what Xan was? Those were the men she specialized in, after all.
‘What’s in it for you?’ she asked.
He watched her for a minute. ‘It’s my job.’
‘No it’s not. At least not only that. I can hear it in your voice. Why are you and Mr Delaney making such a bizarre left-handed turn into non-fiction?’
‘Because too many people have suffered from a belief in what isn’t true.’
Dee didn’t bother facing him. ‘Many people say the same about religion.’
‘There are truths in religion. Not in this.’
Dee shook her head. ‘This is personal, isn’t it?’
He spent a moment looking out over the valley. The wind ruffled his hair, and the tree whispered above them. ‘I’ve seen the damage quacks can do,’ he finally said.
It was as if a light had flicked off in him. Dee saw the shadows settle and wondered.
‘Can you tell me?’
He looked up, his eyes glowing oddly in the dusk. ‘Oh, I knew someone once. Lost her husband and son in a plane crash.’
Dee sighed. ‘Fell prey to people telling her they could contact her loved ones?’
He didn’t even nod. ‘It wasn’t even the money she lost that was the worst. It was the waste of her life.’
‘Yeah,’ Dee said. ‘There are con artists out there. No question about it.’
‘But were your parents?’
For a long moment, Dee just looked at him. Weighed the ramifications of her words. Of the book that Mark Delaney was going to do, with or without her help. Did she reinforce Danny James’s prejudice or discount it? It shouldn’t matter. She’d be gone soon.
‘Is there really a book?’
He looked affronted. ‘Of course there’s a book.’ She nodded. ‘They truly believed that they helped people.’
‘Did they? Help?’
‘A lot of people said so.’ People who sent in money for readings. Money that had gone into houses and cars, and all that gaudy jewelry that had kept the Fortune sisters afloat for these twelve years.
Until those terrible final days when everything had fallen apart. Dee could still see her parents standing there like stunned cattle waiting for the worst, the television cameras that had loved them for so long turning on them, Xan already safely away. She saw them again on that awful morning when she’d stumbled over them, empty husks sprawled on the floor.
‘And you?’ he asked. ‘Did they ever help you?’
She almost laughed. It was a question no one else had ever thought to ask. ‘You can’t think I’d discuss that with you, knowing you’re going to be talking to my aunt.’
‘You’re right,’ he said. ‘That was out of line. I’m sorry.’
She could hear him approaching. She didn’t move. She had a feeling she knew what he intended. Hell, she hoped she knew. Her heart had picked up speed again. She ached, knowing this man was the last person from whom she should seek comfort. Why not? she thought, bracing herself for his first touch. Why not enjoy him, just for this little while? God knew he felt good enough. That curious lightning was sparking between them again, skittering all the way down to Dee’s toes and causing them to curl. There were parts of her body that should have glowed in the dark. Surely she could accept this one gift before leaving?
Turning her in his arms, he smiled down at her. ‘I’m glad I met you, though.’
Dee thought his hand might have been shaking a bit as he brushed a loose curl from her forehead. His body radiated warmth, strength. Security. Dee couldn’t think of a thing she craved more.
She rested her hands on his chest. ‘Me, too.’
She could do this. She could enjoy this man. She wanted to. She wanted to seduce him. She wanted him to seduce her.
But always Xan lived in her head. You don’t have the control, Deirdre. You never will. Without me, you’re a failure. Without my guidance, there will be disaster.
Danny bent his head to her. Dee fought down the instinctive panic and lifted her face to meet him. She could control herself. She did it every morning when she shifted for her painting. She kept from doing it at the bank when she became so frustrated she could chew glass. She could do it now.
He held her face in his calloused hands. Her knees had grown wobbly, until he was all but holding her up, and he hadn’t even kissed her yet.
He did. Oh, he did. For a blissful eternity, Dee basked in the unfettered delight of it. He nibbled, he courted, he seduced. He unleashed the kind of fire that shattered cells. He urged her mouth open and slipped inside.
There went her knees again. She was glowing, her breasts pebbled and aching. She wanted him to touch her. She wanted him to lay her down in her stone circle and not let her up until someone else was crowned Oldest Virgin in North America.