Black Jack (23 page)

backseat to the woman, and he knew it.

Staring into her eyes as she looked up at him, Travis had to fight himself, to keep from

telling her the truth. At that moment there was nothing more important than giving her the

answers she needed with such desperation.

Lilly breathed in deep and hard to regain control of herself. The emotion and the needs

ripping through her, the fear that battled with confusion.

I’m checking the garage later, Lilly mouthed. Someone had tried to kill her. Her cycle had

been parked in the underground garage, unattended. Perhaps something had been left behind.

He shook his head firmly. He wasn’t arguing vocally with her. That was telling.

They had worked together often, he had said. She was trained for covert maneuvers,

personal protection and guerrilla tactics. She sensed that. They were partners in more than the

bedroom games they had been playing. It was time she put some of that knowledge, those

instincts to use and figured out what the hell was going on. She might not have her memories,

but she still had her instincts and the bits of knowledge that were coming to her in bits and

pieces, every day. She knew just enough to make her dangerous now. Just enough to possibly

get her killed.

But she wouldn’t go alone.

Lilly smiled at the thought.

Travis saw the smile. As John had stated earlier that day, this was pure Night Hawk. This

was not Lady Victoria Lillian Harrington. This was the agent. The woman that could be more

dangerous than most men could ever hope to be.

That gleam of stubbornness filled her eyes, and though he’d been expecting it, it still

managed to surprise him.

She was morphing right in front of his eyes from the lady she was believed to be, to the

dangerous covert agent she had been. The separate parts of Lilly weren’t merging together

cohesively, or better yet for the Ops, the agent persona hadn’t died entirely.

No, he mouthed back at her. It’s being taken care of.

She jerked her arm from his grip, a frown tightening her brow as her lips thinned again. She

wasn’t the least bit happy that someone else might be taking care of anything.

“I know how to take care of my own business,” she warned him in a low whisper, the light

English accent slipping away from her to reveal the cool, accentless tone of the agent Lilly

Belle.

Even now, knowing who and what she was, he found it damned hard to see Lilly as an

agent right now. Hell, he’d seen her in action more than once, and it was still hard to believe it

all the way to his soul.

“This has gone beyond your business.” He gripped her arm, keeping his voice to a mere

breath of a sound. “Back off, Lilly, and let me take care of this.”

“I don’t need you to take care of this for me,” she assured him. “I’ll take care of this on my

own.”

She was going to make him crazy. If she remembered who she was, what she had been, he

might not have been nearly so worried. But she didn’t remember, and God only knew how

many of the instincts buried inside her memories were still hidden.

She was adept now, she had proved that in the garage today. But he couldn’t be certain,

clear to his soul, that she had retained enough of her past identity to be able to protect herself

effectively.

“I have guests to greet,” she reminded him as she flashed him a hard look from gem-cold

green eyes. “And a party to attend. We need to leave now, if you don’t mind.”

Damn her. Travis had to grit his teeth to keep from snapping out something he knew would

cause a confrontation. Lilly didn’t deal well with what she called “smart-ass male remarks.”

Not that he did well with the feminine kind either. Strangely enough, though, when her sweet

mouth got smart, his dick just got hard.

It was hard now. As he followed her from the bedroom, along the open hall and down the

elaborate, curved staircase, his cock was throbbing with an increased hunger that he was

damned if he knew what to do with. Especially at the moment.

“Mr. Caine.” Desmond Harrington stepped from the open doorway of the ballroom, his

gaze cautious as the doorbell rang and Lilly took her place at her mother’s side.

“Lord Harrington. Lady Harrington.” Travis paused at the bottom of the steps and observed

Lilly’s mother watching her with a glimmer of silent condemnation.

Lady Harrington wasn’t happy to see him.

“Why am I not surprised to see you here, Caine?” Lord Harrington sighed as the first guests

began to filter into the large foyer.

Lord Desmond Harrington’s expression was heavy, resigned. The deep furrows in his

forehead, surprisingly, went along with his rough face. He was a man that had survived by his

own wits and business sense, unlike his half brother who had been born into society and a

fortune that stretched back to Cromwell’s time.

“I don’t know, Lord Harrington, why aren’t you surprised?” he asked the other man as he

kept his eyes on Lilly.

Lilly seemed too off balance. Travis could sense the fine line she was riding, the sharp edge

of nerves and conflict that were tearing at her.

“You’re sneering at my title,” the other man growled, though there was no true heat in his

voice. “It’s offensive.”

Travis grunted at the accusation. “Perhaps you don’t understand an American’s version of

respect.”

He was actually more English than Harrington was. He was a Dermont, born into a long

line of Dermonts, and had inherited a fortune that stretched back even further than Cromwell’s

time. His grandsires had married proud English heiresses and built that fortune until the

present Lord Dermont could sit back and rest on the fine pillows his ancestors had created for

him.

“American, huh?” Harrington’s tone was singularly disbelieving. “Why do I have a feeling

there’s much more to you than meets the eye, or the investigator’s report?”

Travis turned back to him, his brow lifting. “Went that far, did you?” He was a bit amused

by the fact.

“You’re not exactly on the right side of the law,” Harrington muttered. “You’re a danger to

her now. You were a danger to her before.”

No, Travis hadn’t been a danger to her. They had saved each other’s lives more than once.

His Lilly was a hell of a lot more woman than Desmond Harrington could ever guess.

Travis turned to Lilly’s uncle and stared back at him with a hard gaze for long seconds

before saying, “You won’t convince her to let me go, Harrington. Don’t even try it.”

Desmond grimaced. “I’m figuring that out, but it’s something her mother isn’t happy over.”

“And her brother?” Travis asked. “I notice he’s not here to celebrate her return to the family

fold.”

For a second, regret and grief flashed in Desmond’s pale blue eyes. He turned away for a

moment before sipping from the drink he held in his hand.

“Jared is having a hard time coming to grips with this,” he finally stated as he stared down

his nose at Travis. “But I have a feeling you’re already aware of that.”

Aware of that didn’t fully describe it. He knew damned good and well that Jared Harrington

had turned his back on his sister at the hospital, proclaiming that the woman lying

unconscious before him was not his sister.

Her face had changed, but her relationship to him hadn’t. Still, Jared had denounced her,

just as he still denounced her despite the DNA tests that assured the world she was indeed

who she purported to be. She had changed her looks, her name, her life, he had claimed. She

had disowned her family first.

Travis stepped back as the guests began to file into the ballroom, stopping to greet

Desmond, then moving to the buffet and drink bar.

As Senator Stanton greeted Desmond, Travis noticed the other man’s gaze sliding toward

him as though curious. Several minutes later Santos and Rhiannon made their appearance as

well, their business personas firmly intact. Cool, professional. Just a hint of danger.

“Mr. Caine, it’s good to see you again,” Rhiannon greeted him, resplendent in a long silver

and black strapless ballgown that gave her the appearance of one of the fairies she was named

for.

“Rhiannon, Santos.” Travis nodded as they shook hands, well aware of Desmond’s interest

as he watched them.

“It’s wonderful to see Lilly again,” Rhiannon commented with a cool smile. “Santos and I

have been worried about her.”

“There’s no need to worry,” Desmond growled. “She’s safe with her family, where she’s

supposed to be.”

Rhiannon’s brow arched. “I believe that’s how we came to meet Lilly to begin with,” she

stated softly. “The dubious protection of the bosom of her loving family. I hope you take

better care of her this time, Lord Harrington.”

Harrington’s jaw tightened furiously as his pale blue eyes shot enraged flames Rhiannon’s

way. Her response was yet another cool smile before she moved at Santos’s urging to join the

party inside.

“I don’t like your friends,” Lilly’s uncle informed him as he turned an angry glare on

Travis.

Travis shrugged. “Friends and acquaintances are two different things, Harrington. But she

does have a point.”

“And that being?” he snapped.

“Lilly’s family didn’t protect her diligently enough. A mistake I don’t intend to make.”

Travis turned his gaze back to Lilly then, watching her portray the genteel English lady to

perfection as she helped her mother greet the guests as they filed in.

She was sleek and well-mannered with just the slightest hint of reservation as she spoke to

the guests who were once close friends.

Those friends had married in the past six years, had had children, moved away from the

interests they had once shared and accepted the death of the young woman they had called

their friend.

Now, they were facing her again, and sensing the changes within her. Changes that made

them wary and uncomfortable.

As the line began to thin, he snagged a drink from a waiter’s tray and moved closer to her.

“Thank you.” There was a gleam of desperation in her gaze that he was certain even her

mother hadn’t seen as she took the champagne and sipped at it. Very ladylike. But he noticed

she consumed more in one sip than most ladies would in the same situation.

“The band is starting up,” he murmured as he bent to her ear. “Shall we go inside, snag a

plate from the buffet, and dance a bit later?”

“Lilly has duties to attend.” Lady Harrington turned to him with a frosty smile and a gleam

of hatred in her eyes. “Do be a nice gentleman and amuse yourself elsewhere.”

He felt Lilly stiffen beside him. “That’s enough, Mother,” she said gently. “If you’ll excuse

me, I believe I will take Travis up on his offer. We can talk later.”

“Lilly.” Lady Harrington caught her daughter’s arm as she turned to leave. “Don’t consort

with him in public. It’s bad enough you do so in private,” she hissed for her daughter’s ears

alone.

“I love you, Mother.” She kissed her mother’s cheek before turning, accepting Travis’s arm,

and moving slowly away.

Travis felt an edge of sorrow for the other woman. She had her daughter back, but it wasn’t

the daughter she remembered, and it was one she was having a very hard time accepting.

“The party will wind down around midnight,” Lilly stated as they entered the ballroom.

“Be ready to go to the garage with me, or I’ll go alone.”

She kept a smile on her face the whole time.

“I wouldn’t advise that,” he warned her tightly.

“I’m certain you wouldn’t, but it doesn’t really matter.” She stopped and stared up at him,

ice filling her gaze. “Someone has tried to kill me twice now. I’ll find out who it is, Travis,

and when I do, they’ll pay.”

There was more than anger in her voice now, there was pain. The frosty reception she had

received from her friends, the condemnation in their gazes, the unsympathetic curiosity, all

were taking their toll.

She may have been one of the Ops’s best female agents, but she was also one of the few

that had managed to retain her heart, as well as her dreams.

“Travis, Senator Stanton wants to meet.” Nik edged close, his voice pitched low as Travis

watched Lilly while she listened to one of Desmond’s closest friends brag about a recent

business deal he and Desmond had made.

The stiffness in her body was telling. The observation of moments ago cemented in Travis’s

mind as he noticed her discomfort.

“When?” Travis murmured.

“It’s set for now. Santos, Rhiannon, Noah, myself, and you. You have five minutes.”

“Where?”

“Your limo.”

Travis gave a quick nod. “Inform me I have a business call and I’ll take it in the limo.”

Travis lifted his drink to his lips as he spoke.

Nik inclined his head before moving to stand behind Travis, taking his stance as bodyguard.

Travis continued to move about the ballroom with Lilly, listening, watching, as she

reconnected with those old friends.

Their discomfort and guilt nearly matched hers.

There was no doubt in his mind that Lilly no longer fit in with the society she had been

raised in. The fact that she was no longer Lady Victoria was becoming more and more

apparent.

“Mr. Caine, you have a business call,” Nik announced just loudly enough to allow those he