And I know that you did what you thought was best for the family. But being with you right now is only going to make me think of how lousy I am at choosing men. I really need to be alone.”
It was the catch in her voice that had the pain shooting through him. He couldn’t help recalling the scene in his office when he’d forced her to look at the evidence Tracker had gathered on Bradley Davis. It would be a long time before he could forget the words she’d hurled at him. They’d hurt much more than the right cross she’d managed to land on his chin. She’d accused him of having ice water in his veins, of being a ruthless dictator, of caring only about Wainright Enterprises.
What else could he expect her to say? He was prepared to go to almost any length to protect the company his grandfather had built and his father had almost destroyed. He stared past the low-slung buildings that formed the small private airport. The air was stifling, not even a hint of a breeze stirred the palms. If Sophie had a built-in homing device that seemed to attract fortune hunters, she’d inherited that gene directly from their father. His last and fifth divorce had come close to destroying Wainright Enterprises.
He’d tried to tell himself that Sophie would have been hurt even more if she’d gone ahead and married Bradley Davis. But that certainty hadn’t helped a bit when she’d broken down and sobbed in his office.
“Please let me do this, Lucas. The spa has excellent security, and you can call the desk each day to check on me. You can even send one of your security people up here—as long as he’s willing to camp in the woods. No males are allowed on the grounds.”
For a moment Lucas said nothing as he ran the risks through his mind. A spa that was off-limits to men sounded secure, especially if he had Tracker assign one of his people to keep an eye on the place. While she was there, Sophie should be safe from any plot that Vincent Falcone might be hatching. Lucas drew in a deep breath. “As long as what you’re telling me about this Serenity Spa is the truth.”
“Check it out. I’m at the Charlotte airport now. Their van will be picking me up any minute. And whatever you do, don’t blame Mac for this. I talked her into it. I can be very persuasive when I set my mind to it.”
Lucas’s lips curved in a smile. “Tell me about it. Don’t worry, I’ll have your friend back in D.C. by midafternoon.”
“Oh, I don’t think you should do that. She has a little problem she’s depending on you to help her with, and I assured her that you were the perfect man for the job.”
“What does she want me to do?” Lucas asked, glancing toward his plane. Mac had moved to the shade cast by one of the wings and was motioning his pilot to join her. Shaking her head, Captain Roberts stayed where she was. Evidently his order to stay put hadn’t intimidated the doc. Courage had always appealed to him.
“I’m going to let Mac tell you that. But she may need a little encouragement. And I don’t suppose you were very welcoming when you saw she wasn’t me.”
No, he hadn’t been welcoming, Lucas thought as he studied Dr. MacKenzie Lloyd. Part of that had been due to the fact that for the past four days he hadn’t been able to get her out of his mind.
In the linen slacks and blouse, she looked prim, innocent and untouchable. It had never been those qualities that had drawn him to a woman before. Perhaps it was that detached way she had of summing up her opponent in a tennis match and then calmly going in for the kill. It was a skill she’d probably picked up in her lab work. But wherever she’d come by that single-minded determination, he couldn’t help but admire it. Nor could he help but view it as a challenge.
“I’m depending on you to be fair, Lucas. Don’t blame her for something that’s not her fault.”
Wasn’t that exactly what he’d been doing—blaming her for that quick skip of delight he’d felt when she’d gotten off the plane?
“Mac doesn’t have anyone else to turn to for advice. Her parents always lecture rather than listen.”
“Ouch.” Lucas winced. It was an accusation Sophie had hurled at him more than once.
“Please, Lucas. I’m asking a favor here. At least take her out to the island and hear her out.”
Take her out to the island? Whatever second thoughts he might have had about the wisdom of doing that had to be dismissed. Sophie so rarely asked for favors. “All right. But at least give me a clue. What kind of problem?”
“It’s personal. And she needs help from a man. That’s all I can tell you.”
Personal? Did it have to do with a boyfriend? An ex-lover? The possibility had him frowning. “I’ll do what I can. In the meantime, I’m going to be checking in on you at that spa.”
“I can’t always promise to be available on my cell phone. They make you check them at the desk. But you can always have one of your security people pitch a tent on one of the hillsides and keep tabs on me that way.”
Lucas sighed at the trace of bitterness he heard in her voice. “I love you, Soph.”
“Ditto, bro. Enjoy.”
As soon as Sophie ended the call, Lucas took out his own cell phone and pressed the number that would get him through to Tracker.
“What’s up, boss?”
“Sophie tricked you.”
“I followed her myself until she got on your private plane.” There was a slight pause, and then he continued. “The raincoats. When she and Dr. Lloyd came out of her shop, they both had their hoods up and their umbrellas open…and I followed the blonde, just as she wanted me to. Damn! Let me check with the man I had tailing Dr. Lloyd.”
“I can tell you where Sophie says she is—the Serenity Spa in Serenity, North Carolina. They don’t allow men on the premises. She claimed she was calling me from the Charlotte airport. She says she wants some time alone, but I want you to make sure she’s there.”
“I’ll check the flight manifests right after I check with Dr. Lloyd’s tail. Am I right in assuming that the good doctor is with you?”
“Yeah. Sophie says she has a problem, so I may have another job for you.”
“I’ll be in touch.”
SOPHIE ENDED her conversation with her brother, then crossed her fingers in the hope that Lucas had bought her story. Of course, he’d check out every detail. She knew from experience just how thorough he was.
However, she’d been thorough too. She glanced at her watch. The first thing Lucas would do would be to check out the flight manifests and see if an S. Wainright had indeed flown from National Airport to Charleston that day. He would find that she had. Hopefully, he wouldn’t find it too suspicious that an M. Lloyd had also made the same flight. She was banking on the fact that he would relax once he found that Sophie Wainright had checked into the Serenity Spa. Hannah Parker, the out-of-work actress she’d hired to do just that should be arriving at the spa any minute, and once that final crucial step had been taken and Lucas had verified it, she should be free.
For the next week, she wasn’t going to be Sophie Wainright. Instead, she would be MacKenzie Lloyd, a burned-out research biologist who was taking a little break from her lab.
She’d begun to formulate
