The Art Of Deception: the classic story from the queen of romance that you won’t be able to put down

They talked a little as they ate, inconsequential things, polite things that two relative strangers speak about over a meal. They’d both been raised to handle such situations—small talk, intelligent give-and-take that skimmed over the surface and meant absolutely nothing.

But Kirby found herself aware of him, more aware than she should have been. More aware than she wanted to be.

Just what kind of man was he, she wondered as he sprinkled salt on his eggs. She’d already concluded he wasn’t nearly as conventional as he appeared to be—or perhaps as he thought himself to be. There was an adventurer in there, she was certain. Her only annoyance stemmed from the fact that it had taken her so long to see it.

She remembered the strength and turbulence of the kiss they’d shared. He’d be a demanding lover. And a fascinating one. Which meant she’d have to be a great deal more careful. She no longer believed he’d be easily managed. Something in his eyes…

Quickly she backed off from that line of thought. The point was, she had to manage him. Finishing off her coffee, she sent up a quick prayer that her father had the Van Gogh well concealed.

“The tour begins from bottom to top,” she said brightly. Rising, she held out her hand. “The dungeons are marvelously morbid and damp, but I think we’ll postpone that in respect of your cashmere sweater.”

“Dungeons?” He accepted her offered arm and walked from the room with her.

“We don’t use them now, I’m afraid, but if the vibrations are right, you can still hear a few moans and rattles.” She said it so casually, he nearly believed her. That, he realized, was one of her biggest talents. Making the ridiculous sound plausible. “Lord Wickerton, the original owner, was quite dastardly.”

“You approve?”

“Approve?” She weighed this as they walked. “Perhaps not, but it’s easy to be intrigued by things that happened nearly a hundred years ago. Evil can become romantic after a certain period of time, don’t you think?”

“I’ve never looked at it quite that way.”

“That’s because you have a very firm grip on what’s right and what’s wrong.”

He stopped and, because their arms were linked, Kirby stopped beside him. He looked down at her with an intensity that put her on guard. “And you?”

She opened her mouth, then closed it again before she could say something foolish. “Let’s just say I’m flexible. You’ll enjoy this room,” she said, pushing open a door. “It’s rather sturdy and staid.”

Taking the insult in stride, Adam walked through with her. For nearly an hour they wandered from room to room. It occurred to him that he’d underestimated the sheer size of the place. Halls snaked and angled, rooms popped up where they were least expected, some tiny, some enormous. Unless he got very, very lucky, Adam concluded, the job would take him a great deal of time.

Pushing open two heavy, carved doors, Kirby led him into the library. It had two levels and was the size of an average two-bedroom apartment. Faded Persian rugs were scattered over the floor. The far wall was glassed in the small diamond panes that graced most of the windows in the house. The rest of the walls were lined floor to ceiling with books. A glance showed Chaucer standing beside D. H. Lawrence. Stephen King leaned against Milton. There wasn’t even the pretense of organization, but there was the rich smell of leather, dust and lemon oil.

The books dominated the room and left no space for paintings. But there was sculpture.

Adam crossed the room and lifted a figure of a stallion carved in walnut. Freedom, grace, movement, seemed to vibrate in his hands. He could almost hear the steady heartbeat against his palm.

There was a bronze bust of Fairchild on a high, round stand. The artist had captured the puckishness, the energy, but more, she’d captured a gentleness and generosity Adam had yet to see.

In silence, he wandered the room, examining each piece as Kirby looked on. He made her nervous, and she struggled against it. Nerves were something she felt rarely, and never acknowledged. Her work had been looked at before, she reminded herself. What else did an artist want but recognition? She linked her fingers and remained silent. His opinion hardly mattered, she told herself, then moistened her lips.

He picked up a piece of marble shaped into a roaring mass of flames. Though the marble was white, the fire was real. Like every other piece he’d examined, the mass of marble flames was physical. Kirby had inherited her father’s gift for creating life.

For a moment, Adam forgot all the reasons he was there and thought only of the woman and the artist. “Where did you study?”

The flip remark she’d been prepared to make vanished from her mind the moment he turned and looked at her with those calm brown eyes. “École des Beaux-Arts formally. But Papa taught me always.”

He turned the marble in his hands. Even a pedestrian imagination would’ve felt the heat. Adam could all but smell it. “How long have you been sculpting?”

“Seriously? About four years.”

“Why the hell have you only had one exhibition? Why are you burying it here?”

Anger. She lifted her brow at it. She’d wondered just what sort of a temper he’d have, but she hadn’t expected to see it break through over her work. “I’m having another in the spring,” she said evenly. “Charles Larson’s handling it.” Abruptly uncomfortable, she shrugged. “Actually, I was pressured into having the other. I wasn’t ready.”

“That’s ridiculous.” He held up the marble as if she hadn’t seen it before. “Absolutely ridiculous.”

Why should it make her feel vulnerable to have her work in the palm of his hand? Turning away, Kirby ran a finger down her father’s bronze nose. “I wasn’t ready,” she repeated, not sure why, when she never explained herself to anyone, she was explaining such things to him. “I had to be sure, you see. There are those who say—who’ll always say—that I rode on Papa’s coattails. That’s to be expected.” She blew out a breath, but her hand remained on the bust of her father. “I had to know differently. I had to know.”

He hadn’t expected sensitivity, sweetness, vulnerability. Not from her. But he’d seen it in her work, and he’d heard it in her voice. It moved him, every bit as much as her passion had. “Now you do.”

She turned again, and her chin tilted. “Now I do.” With an odd smile, she crossed over and took the marble from him. “I’ve never told anyone that before—not even Papa.” When she looked up, her eyes were quiet, soft and curious. “I wonder why it should be you.”

He touched her hair, something he’d wanted to do since he’d seen the morning sun slant on it. “I wonder why I’m glad it was.”

She took a step back. There was no ignoring a longing so quick and so strong. There was no forgetting caution. “Well, we’ll have to think about it, I suppose. This concludes the first part of our tour.” She set the marble down and smiled easily. “All comments and questions are welcome.”

He’d dipped below the surface, Adam realized, and she didn’t care for it. That he understood. “Your home’s…overwhelming,” he decided, and made her smile broaden into a grin. “I’m disappointed there isn’t a moat and dragon.”

“Just try leaving your vegetables on your plate and you’ll see what a dragon Tulip can be. As to the moat…” She started to shrug an apology, then remembered. “Toadstools, how could I have forgotten?”

Without waiting for an answer, she grabbed his hand and dashed back to the parlor. “No moat,” she told him as she went directly to the fireplace. “But there are secret passageways.”

“I should’ve known.”

“It’s been quite a while since I—” She broke off and began to mutter to herself as she pushed and tugged at the carved oak mantel. “I swear it’s one of the flowers along here—there’s a button, but you have to catch it just right.” With an annoyed gesture, she flicked the ponytail back over her shoulder. Adam watched her long, elegant fingers push and prod. He saw that her nails were short, rounded and unpainted. A schoolgirl’s nails, or a nun’s. Yet the impression of sexual vitality remained. “I know it’s here, but I can’t quite… Et voilà.” Pleased with herself, Kirby stepped back as a section of paneling slid creakily aside. “Needs some oil,” she decided.

“Impressive,” Adam murmured, already wondering if he’d gotten lucky. “Does it lead to the dungeons?”

“It spreads out all over the house in a maze of twists and turns.” Moving to the entrance with him, she peered into the dark. “There’s an entrance in nearly every room. A button on the other side opens or closes the panel. The passages are horribly dark and moldy.” With a shudder, she stepped back. “Perhaps that’s why I forgot about them.” Suddenly cold, she rubbed her hands together. “I used to haunt them as a child, drove the servants mad.”

“I can imagine.” But he saw the quick dread in her eyes as she looked back into the dark.

“I paid for it, I suppose. One day my flashlight went out on me and I couldn’t find my way out. There’re spiders down there as big as schnauzers.” She laughed, but took another step back. “I don’t know how long I was in there, but when Papa found me I was hysterical. Needless to say, I found other ways to terrorize the staff.”

“It still frightens you.”

She glanced up, prepared to brush it off. For the second time the quiet look in his eyes had her telling the simple truth. “Yes. Yes, apparently it does. Well, now that I’ve confessed my neurosis, let’s move on.”

The panel closed, grumbling in protest as she pushed the control. Adam felt rather than heard her sigh of relief. When he took her hand, he found it cold. He wanted to warm it, and her. Instead he concentrated on just what the passages could mean to him. With them he’d have access to every room without the risk of running into one of the staff or one of the Fairchilds. When an opportunity was tossed in your lap, you took it for what it was worth. He’d begin tonight.

“A delivery for you, Miss Fairchild.”

Both Kirby and Adam paused on the bottom landing of the stairs. Kirby eyed the long white box the butler held in his hands. “Not again, Cards.”

“It would appear so, miss.”

“Galoshes.” Kirby sniffed, scratched a point just under her jaw and studied the box. “I’ll just have to be more firm.”

“Just as you say, miss.”