Key of Knowledge
Page 23

She didn’t know if any of it brought her closer to the key, but she’d certainly learned some new things this evening. Kane already knew she was searching for the second key, and hadn’t wasted any time putting the whammy on her. He’d wanted her to know he was watching.
And didn’t that mean he was worried that she had a good chance of succeeding?
Yeah, that made sense. Malory had shut him down once. So maybe he would be less cocky this time up. And more vicious, she mused.
She’d learned that Jordan still had that core of decency that had always attracted her. She’d been scared, nearly ill with fear, and he’d given her exactly what she needed to find her feet again without making her feel foolish or weak.
She had to give him credit for that.
More, she admitted as she went to clean up the mess she’d left in the bathroom, she had to give him credit for being honest enough to say he’d been selfish.
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 he’d 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 won’t be so easy to scare me next time. I’ll deal with you. With Jordan. With myself. Because I learned one more thing tonight. Goddamn it, I’m still in love with the jerk.”
It didn’t 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 who’d been her first love. Didn’t 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.
Wouldn’t 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 she’d read every one of his books.
Twice.
Chapter Six
THEY started work on the porch, taking advantage of the fine fall weather and Zoe’s 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 at Zoe’s direction prepping the porch for paint.
“I didn’t know it would be so much work.” Malory sat back on her heels and examined her nails. “I’ve ruined my manicure. And you just gave it to me a couple of days ago,” she reminded Zoe.
“I’ll give you another. If we don’t scrape and sand off the peeling paint, the new paint won’t stick right. It needs a good, smooth, porous surface, or we’ll be doing this again in the spring.”
“We bow to you,” Dana told Zoe, 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.”
“It’s already gone to her head,” Dana grumbled and attacked curls of peeling paint with her scraper.
“I wouldn’t mind having a little crown, something delicate and tasteful.” Even as she spoke, Zoe kept one eye on her underlings. “It’s going to look great. You’ll see.”
“Why don’t 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 shouldn’t have gotten so worked up about it. I just haven’t had a guy over in a while. And I’m not used to cooking for millionaires. I felt like I needed finger bowls or something.”
“Brad’s 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.”
“It’s not the same. We didn’t 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 doesn’t have a lot to say to the heir to an American empire.”
“You’re not being fair to him, or yourself,” Malory told her.
“Maybe not. Just realistic. Anyway, he makes me nervous. I guess it’s not only the money, really. Jordan has money, he must with all those bestsellers. But he doesn’t 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 didn’t 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 didn’t he have a look at my car for me. It was really sweet of him.”
“He’s just a big sugar cookie,” Dana said with a smile that clamped her teeth together.
“Oh, don’t be like that, Dana.” Zoe switched off the sander, angled her head. “He didn’t have to bother, and he spent over two hours messing with it, and wouldn’t 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 hasn’t run this well since I bought it. Actually, it didn’t run this well then, either.”
“Yeah, he always was good with cars.” And generous with his time, Dana was forced to admit. “You’re 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. “It’s 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.”