“Sweetie, you come sit down.” Taking charge, Zoe drew her across the room to the sofa. “You just relax for a minute. I’m going to fix you something to eat.”

“I got Chinese. In the kitchen.”

“That’s fine. You just take it easy, and Malory and I will take care of everything.”

They fixed plates, brewed tea, tucked a throw over her legs, and generally did all the things women instinctively know how to do to offer comfort.

“Thanks. I mean it. I didn’t realize I was that close to cracking. Bastard really got to me.”

“Tell us what happened.” Malory stroked Dana’s hair.

“I went over to our place, to paint. I woke up cranky and needed something to do.” She slid a glance at Malory. “Sorry about siccing Moe on you so early.”

“Not a problem.”

“So.” She soothed her throat with tea. “I started painting. It felt good, and I was thinking about how everything was going to look. Then he was there.”

She started to tell them, as coherently as she could, and Zoe interrupted with an indignant oath.

“That’s just bullshit! That’s just a lie. Of course you matter. He doesn’t know a damn thing about it.”

“He’s just playing on my weaknesses. I know it. Leaving the library bothered me, more than I’ve been willing to admit. I guess I’ve been feeling like what I did there didn’t really matter to anyone but me. He uses things like that, then makes them bigger, more hurtful.”

She picked up her tea again and told them how he’d transformed the rooms into her finished bookstore. “It was my vision of it,” Dana said. “One I hadn’t completely realized I had. Not just the way it looked but the way it felt, too. And, of course, loaded with customers.”

Her dimples made a brief appearance in her cheeks. “He made it seem like it couldn’t be that way unless he did it for me. That was a mistake, because it can be. Okay, maybe not bursting at the seams with customers, but the way it looked, the way it felt. It can be that way because it’s mine. It’s ours. And we’ll make it that way.”

“Damn straight.” Seated on the floor at her feet, Zoe gave Dana’s knee a squeeze.

“Then he shifted to Jordan. I’ve got to have a brownie now.” She leaned forward and took one off the plate that Malory had loaded with them. “There’s this fabulous bedroom, one of my dream rooms, you know? The place you build in your head if you could have a room done any way you want it? And Jordan’s kneeling at my feet, like a supplicant. He’s all but in tears, telling me how he loves me, how he can’t live without me. All this junk he would never say in a million years. The kind of thing I’ve had him say in my head, so I could kick him in the teeth after. Payback stuff.”

She blew out a breath. “Jeez, he’s even telling me to kick him, beat him, whatever.” She broke off at the snicker and aimed a look at Zoe. Then her lips twitched. “Okay, maybe it is funny when you think about it. The Hawke, weeping at my feet, begging me to let him spend his life worshiping me.”

Malory decided it was time for a brownie as well. “What was he wearing?”

After one long pause, Dana burst out laughing. All the aches, the tension, the illness vanished. “Thanks. Man, when I think I was next to sobbing like a baby. I was even feeling guilty because the deal with Jordan was close to a couple I used to toy around with. How he would realize his horrible mistake, come crawling back and beg. It seems satisfying in your head, you know. But let me tell you, when it really happens—or seems to—it’s just horrible. So, basically, I told Kane he could kiss my ass, and I was back where I’d started.”

Zoe took off Dana’s shoes and began to rub her feet. “You had a pretty lousy morning.”

“There’s one more thing. There was writing on the wall, in this greasy black. ‘Drown thyself!’ I painted over it.”

“That’s horrible. He was trying to make you remember the island, the storm,” Zoe muttered. “He’s just huffing and puffing, that’s all. He couldn’t even make you think anything he did this morning was real. You knew it was him all along.”

“I don’t think he wanted it any other way,” Dana mused. “I think he was trying a new line of attack. But the writing? Not about the island. It’s a line from Othello. I recognized it almost immediately, just as I’ve now realized he knew I would. I went running out of our place like a maniac to get back here and look it up. To look for the key in the book.”

“It’s from a book?” Zoe swiveled around to pick up one of the copies from the coffee table. “I don’t know how you’d remember something like that. It’s a real talent. But why would Kane give you a clue to the key?”

“Now, quick wit—that’s a real talent.” Dana sighed. “I got suckered in. All I could think was that I knew the line, and how I’d been focused on that play, with the way Iago mirrored Kane in so many ways. So I went haring off, half-cocked, sure the key was going to fall right into my hot little hand.”

She flopped back against the seat. “Even when the light finally dawned, I just had to follow through. Hence, half a day wasted chasing the wild goose.”

“It’s not wasted if you figured it out. You knew he was lying about the bookstore,” Malory pointed out. “Know the truth from his lies? Isn’t that how it went? You did. And you realized he’d written a kind of lie to throw you off. But if you hadn’t followed through, you wouldn’t be sure.”

“I guess. I’m still going to be snatching at every copy of that play I come across.”

“I’ll tell you something important you figured out today.” Malory patted her knee. “You knew the truth was we’re in this together, so you called us. And you know, however satisfying the fantasy might be when you’re hurt or mad, you don’t want Jordan to be a lapdog.”

“Well . . . maybe just for a couple of days. Especially if Zoe can teach him how to give a foot rub.” She leaned her head back, tried to relax.

“The thing is . . . I’m in love with him. Stupid jerkoff.” She let out a long, long sigh. “I don’t know what the hell I’m going to do about it.”

Malory picked up the plate. “Have another brownie.”