Now You See Her Read online

“Candra Worth.” There was no point in hiding her identity, she thought. Carson was more likely to take the call if he knew who she was; he wouldn’t like it, but he would do it.

  She was on hold for several minutes, long enough that she was beginning to get angry when Carson’s richly modulated voice finally came on, except today it wasn’t so modulated. It sounded rather tight, she thought with satisfaction. Good. That meant he was worried.

  “What do you want?” he said abruptly.

  Candra managed a light laugh. Actually, it felt good to be the one in control for a change. “Really, Carson, that’s a silly question.”

  “Raising that kind of money in cash isn’t easy.”

  “How difficult can it be? Sell a few stocks, cash in a few bonds, dip into a few accounts. You can’t put me off with that excuse. If you don’t have the money by tomorrow afternoon, a photograph will be at The Washington Post first thing the next morning. Let’s see, which picture should I choose? The one of you snorting coke, I think.”

  “I want you to know this conversation is being taped,” he said, his voice full of satisfaction. “You are now on record attempting blackmail. Is that a felony? You know, I rather think it is. I believe, my dear, we now have each other by the short hairs.”

  “Do we?” Carson would have benefited from having encountered Richard’s style of negotiating, Candra thought grimly. Make the stakes too high for the other person to tolerate, and don’t back down. It was a brutally effective tactic. “You don’t quite understand my position. If I don’t get that money, I lose everything, so I don’t give a damn what you’ve taped. You have heard the old saw about desperate people and desperate measures, haven’t you?”

  “You fucking—”

  “Now, now, let’s be civilized.” She’d had enough scenes for one day.

  “Civilized, my ass.” He was breathing heavily, the sound echoing in her ear.

  “Face it, Carson; the only way you can use that tape is if those photographs have been made public, which is too late for you. Your career would be in the toilet. We would both lose, but if you don’t come through with the money, I’ve lost anyway, so I might as well take you down with me.” Her voice was cool, controlled. She meant every word.

  He knew it, too. There was more heavy breathing before he accepted the inevitable. ‘All right, goddamn you. But tomorrow is too soon. It’ll take at least two days to get that kind of cash.”

  “Day after tomorrow, then, but not a day longer.”

  * * *

  At his desk, Kai smiled, and carefully timed his disconnect to coincide with Candra’s so she wouldn’t see the telltale light above her line stay on a second too long. He had perfected the art of eavesdropping over the years he had worked for her, just to keep the upper hand. She thought she had control, of course, but only because he had allowed her to think it.

  So the little bitch was trying her hand at blackmail. He shouldn’t be surprised, because he knew Richard had her over a barrel and Candra wasn’t a woman who could do without money.

  When she signed the divorce agreement, the gallery would become hers. She would probably fire him as she had threatened, he thought. Things were fine with her as long as he kept his mouth shut and performed on cue in bed, but he was tired of being her whore.

  She sailed out of her office, all smiles now. “Darling,” she said, coming over to his desk and lightly placing her hand on the back of his neck.

  “I’m so sorry I snapped at you. You were right; I had a fight with Richard and I took it out on you.”

  Now she would offer sex to pacify him, he thought cynically.

  She lightly stroked her fingers through his hair. “Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?” Her tone was light, teasing, seductive.

  He stood, moving away from her touch. “That isn’t necessary,” he said, at his most polite. He would have taken her up on the offer if he hadn’t had an appointment at lunchtime and needed to be fresh for that. Too bad, he thought. He would have enjoyed being rough with her, maybe even rougher than she liked.

  “Don’t pout, darling; it isn’t attractive.”

  He shrugged his disinterest. “I’m not in the mood.”

  “Nonsense, you’re always in the mood.”

  “Maybe I’m getting picky,” he said, and watched her temper flare. Candra didn’t deal well with rejection. She was truly a beautiful woman, he thought, so beautiful she had always been able to get any man she wanted. Richard’s rejection of her had startled her, shaken her out of her complacency, and now her lowly assistant was refusing her offer. Her world must be wobbling off its axis.

  “Then enjoy your sulk,” she said, her lips tight. “Oh, by the way. Get Sweeney’s new pieces back from the framer. We won’t be displaying her work anymore.”

  “Really.” Interested in this latest development, he raised his eyebrows. “That’s a shame, since her new stuff is better than anything she’s ever done before. What’s the problem?”

  Her perfect fingernails tapped a tattoo on his desk. “Just a small complication. I found her and Richard together this morning.”

  Oho! Kai threw back his head and laughed. It wasn’t the most politic thing to do, but the image was just so delicious. “So that’s what ruffled your feathers! Did you catch them doing the nasty?”

  She was annoyed that he’d laughed, he could tell. If her lips got any tighter, they would disappear. “I caught him coming out of her apartment. He must have spent the night.”

  Kai whistled. “He’s a fast worker. I wouldn’t tag Sweeney as an easy lay, so he must have put some effort into getting her.” He put admiration into his tone, knowing Candra would be infuriated. “I wouldn’t mind taking her for a ride myself.”

  “I don’t see the attraction.” The words were so stiff, they would barely come out of her mouth.

  “You mean other than those big blue eyes and all that hair? Well, her tits are nice. They aren’t very big, but they don’t sag at all, and her ass is fine—”

  “I don’t need a rundown,” Candra snapped, whirling away from the desk and going back into her office. Kai laughed softly. He was turned on, he realized. He liked baiting Candra, and envisioning Sweeney’s body, imaging her naked, was exciting.

  He kept that pleasant heat all during the morning, even while he was assisting some tourists from Omaha who wanted some “real art,” in their words, to take back to Nebraska with them. Knowing instinctively what they wouldn’t like, he steered them away from the abstract and modern, and smiled to himself as he showed them the last piece Sweeney had in the gallery. Candra would be furious if they bought it.

  They did, to his delight.

  At twelve-thirty he left the gallery and walked the eleven blocks to his apartment. A hotel would have been more convenient, but the woman he was meeting was afraid she would be recognized at a hotel. He had given her his key and knew she would be waiting for him. He would probably be late getting back to work, he thought.

  She was cautious; she had relocked the door. He knocked once, and watched the peephole darken as she put her eye to it. She opened the door.

  “Kai, darling, you’re late.”

  Kai smiled. She had already taken off her clothes and was wearing his robe, the one he himself never wore but kept because women seemed to think they looked sexy in it. The belt was loosely tied, of course, and the robe open just enough to show most of one breast. She was in good shape, for a woman old enough to be his mother. There was no telling how many lifts and tucks a cosmetic surgeon had done on her.

  “You look beautiful,” he said as he took her in his arms and undid the robe, pushing it off her shoulders. Margo McMillan arched her fashionably thin body, offering him her breasts, and Kai performed as expected.

  CHAPTER

  THIRTEEN

  The damn painting was calling her. It wasn’t anything as overt as “Here, Sweeney Sweeney Sweeney” but nevertheless, she couldn’t get it out of her mind.

  She’d had a wonderf