than this place ever had. Smiling, she thought of Robert. When this was over, a new life would begin. The thought of being with him again, properly being with him after all this time apart, made her weak with longing.
She felt bad when she thought of Elisabeth. Lana liked her–it would be easier if she didn’t. Their conversation last night had been stilted, uncomfortable, loaded with uncertainties. Lana hadn’t been sure what to say, how to say it, how much Elisabeth knew.
She walked around her quarters, as if to reclaim them, stopping for a moment at the window. Looking out at Cole’s grounds, remembering the route of her perilous escape, she had the strange sensation of being watched. On impulse she turned away and pulled the blind, her pulse racing. A marriage of surveillance had made her jumpy.
Lana showered and changed. When she was out, Rita called.
‘Everything OK?’
‘I’m just back,’ she said, running a comb through her wet hair. ‘I haven’t seen him yet.’
‘You know I’m here if you need me. Right?’
‘Right.’
Lana’s intercom buzzed, startling her. It would be her husband.
She reassured Rita a final time and moved to answer it. ‘Hello?’
‘Lana, it’s me.’
‘Hi,’ she said quietly.
‘Hi.’
There was a pause. ‘Can I talk to you?’ Cole didn’t sound like himself–this wasn’t the cold, hard voice of the betrayed. He was composed. Hopeful, even.
Minutes later she came to the top of the stairs. He was pacing the marble floor in a tight black turtleneck and loose-fitting slacks. Her first impression was that he looked like a dancer.
‘How are things?’ she asked, tentatively making her way down.
‘I’ve been better,’ he said, not unkindly. She saw there were dark circles under his eyes. ‘Come, sit. I want to talk to you. And I want you to listen very carefully.’
79
Finally he had seen her. And it was worth the wait. Oh, was it worth it.
Lester had been flicking through a dirty magazine when a sleek black Mercedes had pulled into Cole Steel’s drive. Manoeuvring the Saab to the east of the mansion, he had parked and waited to see who emerged. Two fearsome-looking dogs had sniffed hungrily at the car. The passenger had been obscured–he saw a burly man open the door, his back thick as a wall. Cursing, Lester had fumbled for the binoculars, but by the time he’d found them it was too late.
A light had gone on in an upstairs window. Lester had exited the vehicle and crept round the perimeter. He’d been shaking with anticipation.
That was when she showed herself to him.
That soft chestnut hair, falling in waves around her shoulders. That beautiful face, so innocent until that filthy sonofabitch got his hands on her. That body, the one he had known so well when she was a girl. She had been so desperate to take her clothes off then, to let him feast his eyes on her adolescence. What would she be like now? He could see her new shape and he wanted it.
Lester closed his eyes to imagine. He put his nose up to the fence and inhaled deeply, as if he could smell her.
Murdering bitch!
She still had him cast under her terrible spell. But not for much longer. The time to reveal himself was getting close. Vegas was close. And with it the moment of his exquisite revenge.
He sat against a tree, panting hard. The light was fading; shadows crept in, stretching across the street, pooling beneath his car.
Up in the mansion his sister pulled the curtains, hiding herself from view.
Temptress. Killer.
He’d make her pay. She didn’t know it yet, but her world was about to end.
80
Cole ran his tongue across his bottom lip, deciding how to word what came next.
‘I’m going to say a few things,’ he told her, ‘and I don’t want you to come in until I’ve finished.’ He wiped his palms on his trousers and she could tell he was nervous. ‘All right?’
She nodded.
‘I want you to stay.’ He closed his eyes. ‘Despite what you’ve done, I want this marriage to continue. It won’t matter that the baby isn’t mine–I will still maintain you both as if it were.’ He fixed his gaze on her. ‘It is vitally important that you continue to be my wife. The father of this child will receive a handsome sum to stay out of our lives.’ He omitted the fact that an operation was currently under way to find out exactly who that was. The only place this guy would be staying was in the seat of