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“Let’s take those one at a time, starting with the simplest. My name is Marco. Pleased to meet you.” He dipped his head in a playful half bow. “I’d like to talk to you about pretty much everything, but maybe starting with what you’ve been doing for the last sixteen years. And do you really have no idea why I’d beinterested?”
Marco said the last bit lightly, but his indigo gaze held mine intently. That shiver of anticipation ran through my nerves again. Randomly I found myself wondering what one of those agile hands would feel like tracing over myskin—
Okay, Ren, mind out of the gutter. You’ve known this guy exactly five minutes, and you can’t even be sure this whole kidnapping thing was reallyaccidental.
Other than the fact that Ibelievedhim, right down in the core of me, for reasons I couldn’t explain.He wouldn’t lie to me, my gut said. How the hell could I knowthat?
None of those reactions answered his question, though. “No,” I said. “I haven’t got a clue. This isn’t some kind of birthday prank that Kylie set up, is it?” It seemed awfully elaborate—and freaky—even forher.
Marco shook his head. “No. Definitely not a prank. I’m just trying to make thingsright.”
“Withme? But I’ve never met you before. I’ve never even seen youbefore.”
“Haven’t we met? Your name is Serenity, isn’tit?”
I hadn’t thought I could tense up any more than I already was. It turned out I was wrong. My back went completelyrigid.
No one used that name. No one had used it except my mother, in the quietest whispers when I was sick or drifting off to sleep, in as long as I couldremember.
“My name is Ren,” I said. My voice came out in arasp.
“Short for Serenity,” Marco said. “You don’t need to hide it with me. I’m not going to hurtyou.”
Why would he say that? My thoughts were spinning. I pressed my hand to my forehead. Marco stepped towardme.
“I don’t understand any of this,” I said. “I reallydon’t.”
His expression softened. As I dropped my hand, he raised his to touch my cheek. My pulse hiccupped, but with the urge to lean into his touch, not to pull away. My skin tingled beneath his fingers. A rich, spicy smell like cinnamon-spiked coffee wafted off of him. Delicious. My gaze dropped to hismouth.
His Adam’s apple bobbed. “What did she do to you, my Princess of Flames?” he murmured. “How has she shut youaway?”
“No one shut me away,” I said. “I’m right here. Who are you talkingabout?”
“Your mother. It had to be her. To protect you, of course,but—”
I jerked back, my eyes widening. “What do you know about my mother?Howdo you know anything abouther?”
Marco looked just as startled by my outburst as I felt. “You could say we ran in the same circles a long time ago. I’ve been looking for her just as much asyou.”
The hope that had started to bubble up inside me burst. “Then you don’t know where she isnow.”
He frowned. “No. Don’t you? Ren, I think you’d better—” He drew in a sharp breath and summoned his earlier jaunty tone. “I’m being a horrible host. All this talk over breakfast time and not offering you a single thing to eat. I’ll bring something up for you. Why don’t you take a moment to clear your head? It seems we have more to talk about than Irealized.”
He lifted my hand to give it a peck on the back. The brush of his lips left my skin burning. Then he swept out of the room without waiting for myresponse.
Chapter 3
Marco
Leonard,the idiot, was hanging around in the hall. “What are you doing?” I snarled as I strode past him. “I told you to get started on your cleaningdetail.”
He hurried after me, looking bewildered. “I thought you were joking about that,Marco.”
“Oh, really?” I spun on him at the top of the staircase. “Did you also think I was joking when I reamed you out for going up to my friend in there and trying to investigate on your own? Not to mention dragging her out here against her will? Or did that part, at least, sinkin?”
Leonard cringed. With anyone else, he would have blustered back, but I knew he was a coward at heart. He crumbled in the face of a strongerauthority.
Unfortunately I hadn’t been around to exert that authority last night.Track the source of the magic as closely as possible,I’d told him.I’ll take over from there when I make it up from North Carolina. Apparently those instructions hadn’t been clear enough. My New York lieutenant had gotten it into his head that I’d be impressed if he brought the girl in on his own. Because kidnapping was obviously the perfect way to rebuild the trust that had been so brutallylost.
