Soft Focus (17 page)

“That's what you said the last time.”

“I know. But this time things are going to work for me, Lizzie. I can feel it.”

“That's what you said the last time,” Elizabeth repeated. But she said it under her breath.

MERRICK LOOKED UP
with a frown when the man's shadow fell across the fender of the car. “Do I know you?”

“The name's Hayden Shaw.” Hayden smiled at him. “I saw you talking to Elizabeth Cabot a few minutes ago.”

Merrick removed his hand from the car door handle and turned around with a quizzical expression. “You know Lizzie?”

“I'm in business in Seattle. We're both members of the same club. You a friend of hers, too?”

“I'm her brother-in-law. Married her sister, Rowena.” Merrick stuck out his hand. “Name's Merrick. Merrick Grenville.”

Hayden's smile widened slowly as he shook hands. “What a coincidence. Are you here for the festival?”

“This film thing?” Merrick grimaced. “No. I just came in for the day to see Lizzie. Gotta get back to Phoenix tonight.”

“If you can spare fifteen minutes, I'd like to buy you a cup of coffee.”

“Thanks, but I'm in kind of a hurry. Long drive back to the airport.”

“This won't take long.” Hayden clapped a hand on his shoulder. “I think you'll want to hear what I have to say.”

“What's this all about?”

“It's about your sister-in-law's relationship with Jack Fairfax.”

Merrick frowned. “You know the guy?”

“Yes,” Hayden said. “I know him very well. And there are a few things I think you should know about him, too.”

JACK SAW ELIZABETH THE MOMENT THAT SHE
walked into the restaurant. He glanced at his watch and frowned. She had kept him waiting twenty minutes for lunch. She was never late.

Almost never.

“What happened?” He got out of the booth and took her coat. “Get lost following Vicky Bellamy around town?”

“Shush.” Elizabeth scowled as she sat down on the other side of the table. “For heaven's sake, lower your voice.”

“Sorry.”

“You think I'm wasting my time watching her, don't you?”

“Uh-huh. I'm going to learn a lot more from Larry than you will playing private eye. So why are you late?”

“Not because of Vicky. My brother-in-law, Merrick, showed up out of the blue.”

Merrick Grenville. The brother-in-law who had lost his job when Morgan had swallowed up Galloway. Damn. He did not need this particular complication, Jack thought. Not now.

“Grenville came all the way here just to see you?” he asked warily.

“He wanted to talk business.” She opened her menu with a
tense, jerky little motion. “I spent an hour and a half with him. He left a few minutes ago. Said he had a plane to catch.”

“What did he want?”

Her jaw tightened. She did not look up from the menu. “It was just a personal conversation. Family stuff.”

“In other words, he wanted money.”

“Like I said, it was a personal conversation,” she said tightly.

He reached out and removed her menu from her fingers. It wasn't easy. She tried to hang on to it. When she was finally forced to release it and meet his eyes, he did not like the mix of emotions he saw in her face.

“Did you tell him about me?” he asked bluntly.

“He knows I'm staying with you, yes.”

“Don't play games with me, Elizabeth. Did you tell him that I was the consultant behind the Galloway takeover?”

She reached across the table, seized the menu, and yanked it back out of his hand. “The subject did not arise.” She bent over the list of appetizers as though seeking divine portents.

“In other words, you didn't tell him. He doesn't know you're sleeping with the man who took Galloway apart.”

She did not look up from the menu. “I didn't think it was any of his business.”

“Why didn't you tell him about me?”

“I think I'll have a salad,” she said. “I'm not very hungry for some reason.”

He leaned partway across the table. “Why didn't you tell him about me?”

She closed the menu. Her Ice Princess mask was firmly in place. “Because I knew it would upset him and I was not in the mood for a scene. Now, can we please change the subject? Did you have any luck talking to Larry?”

“You're afraid to tell him about us, aren't you? You think he'll conclude that I'm using you.”

Anger flared in her eyes, melting the ice in a flash of blue-green fire. “I told you, I want to change the subject.”

“How long do you think you can keep our relationship a secret from your family?”

“I wouldn't exactly call what we have a relationship.”

“What would you call it?”

She narrowed her eyes. “At the moment, I suppose it could be classified as a business fling.”

“Business fling, huh?” Anger shafted through him. “How would you define ‘business fling'?”

“Gosh, I'd say it looks pretty much like any other kind of fling to me. Limited in both scope and duration.”

“You think that what we have going between us will burn itself out so quickly that you'll never have to explain me to your family? Is that your big plan?”

“We don't have time for this,” she said through her teeth. “We've both got another priority, remember? What did you find out from Larry?”

He wanted to argue. He wanted to make her admit that what they had together was not limited in scope or duration. He wanted to force her to tell her family about him.

But one look at the stubborn determination in her eyes and he knew he would get nowhere today. The waiter arrived to take their order. Jack sat back, took a deep breath, and concentrated on the problem of Soft Focus.

When the waiter disappeared, Jack met Elizabeth's eyes across the table. “Larry had some more background data on Holland's business dealings. The guy's had his financial ups and downs in the past, but that's not unusual for a high roller. The most interesting piece of news is that he's
chalked up some big losses in the past year. Took a huge position in an international hedge fund that went belly-up.”

Elizabeth looked thoughtful. “That is interesting. I wonder if he plans to use Soft Focus to recover.”

“Maybe. But to do that, he'd have to take it out of the country.” Jack reached for a chunk of the focaccia bread that the waiter had left on the table.

“I suppose it goes without saying that there's been no sign of Tyler Page?”

“No. The little worm seems to have vanished from the face of the earth.”

The waiter returned with the salad Niçoise that Elizabeth had ordered and a plate of grilled salmon. Jack picked up his fork. He got one bite of the salmon before he saw Elizabeth stiffen. Her gaze went to a point just behind his shoulder. Her mouth parted on a soft, wordless exclamation.

Adrenaline pumped. He put down his fork. “What is it? Do you see Page?”

“No, I—” She broke off. “Jack, wait, don't get up.”

But he was already on his feet, turning to see who it was she had spotted in the crowded restaurant.

He stepped straight into a swinging fist. He had about half a second to see it and turn away in an arc that harmonized with the direction of the moving fist. The result was that the blow clipped him on the side of the jaw and slid off into thin air. But he had been caught off balance. He lurched to the side and came up hard against the end of the booth.

“Merrick!”
Elizabeth sounded both furious and horrified. “What do you think you're doing?”

Elizabeth knew the guy, Jack realized. Wonderful. Instinct warned him not to defend himself. He would come off looking like the aggressor, and women always took a dim view
of that kind of thing. He reached out, grabbed the back of the seat, and made a show of trying to steady himself.

A startled hush had fallen. Every eye in the restaurant was directed at the three of them.

Great. Another restaurant; another scene
. Somehow, Jack thought, he just knew Elizabeth was going to blame him again even though he had made no move to retaliate to the unprovoked attack. He took in the sight of the large, redheaded, red-faced man who loomed in front of him. Merrick was breathing heavily, fists clenched. Jack glanced past him and saw Hayden hovering at the entrance of the restaurant.

Hayden caught his eye, gave him an icy smile, and flipped a one-fingered salute. Then he turned and walked outside.

“What the hell do you think you're doing with my sister-in-law?” Merrick demanded in a voice that shook with righteous indignation.

Jack cautiously touched his jaw while he contemplated the various possible answers to the question. “Funny you should ask. I was just telling Elizabeth that she really ought to introduce me to her family.”

“I already know who you are, Fairfax. You're the bastard who took down Galloway.”

Elizabeth was on her feet. “Merrick, please. Don't say another word.”

“Do you know who this is, Lizzie?”

“I know who he is,” she got out in a half-strangled voice. “We are in the middle of a restaurant, and everyone is staring at us. I do not want to hear another word from either of you. Is that clear?”

“Sure clear to me,” Jack said.

Merrick pressed his lips tightly together and watched Jack as though he were a snake that might strike at any instant.

Jack cautiously checked his teeth with his tongue.
Everything seemed solidly in place. He didn't taste any blood. His lucky day.

Elizabeth opened her purse, removed a handful of cash, and tossed it down on the table. Then she hitched the strap of her purse up onto her shoulder and looked at each man in turn.

“You will both follow me out of here and you will not speak until we are outside.” She started toward the door without a backward glance.

Jack looked at Merrick. “After you.”

Merrick hesitated, and then he turned with an awkward motion and stalked out of the restaurant in Elizabeth's sizzling wake.

Heads swiveled to follow the trio. Elizabeth and Merrick went through the front doors without looking at the hostess, who stood at her post, clutching a stack of menus as though they were bibles she could use to ward off vampires and demons.

Jack took pity on her.

“Don't worry,” he said as he went past the stunned woman. “It's a family trait. You get used to it after a while.”

He went out the door and saw Elizabeth and Merrick standing on the sidewalk. He caught the tail end of the low-voiced quarrel.

“Shaw told me the whole story,” Merrick said. The words were muffled and tight with fury. “How Fairfax seduced you into backing Excalibur and then humiliated you in front of half of Seattle.”

“It wasn't exactly
half
of Seattle,” Elizabeth said stiffly.

Jack glanced at her. “If that's your idea of setting the record straight, I think I'd better handle this myself.”

They both turned to glare at him.

Jack sighed. “Why don't you go back to the house,
Elizabeth? Merrick and I will take a walk down by the river and sort this out.”

“Oh, no, you don't,” Elizabeth said. “I am not about to leave the two of you alone. I will not tolerate any more stupid, macho, chest-beating scenes.”

“Coming from the lady who poured a full pitcher of ice water over my head and called me an egg-sucking son of a bitch in front of
half
of Seattle, that's almost funny,” Jack said.

Elizabeth glowered at him. “I am not going to let the two of you go off alone together.”

“I give you my word we won't kill each other.” Jack opened her car door. “Get in.”

“I have absolutely no intention of leaving.”

“This is something Merrick and I need to discuss alone,” Jack said patiently. “Your presence will only complicate the issue.”

A flicker of uncertainty appeared in her eyes. She glanced at the stone-faced Merrick. He said nothing.

“I don't think this is a good idea,” Elizabeth insisted.

“Trust me,” Jack said softly.

She hesitated a couple of seconds and then got behind the wheel. She took out her sunglasses, put them on, and sat there, frowning at him.

“Drive carefully,” Jack said. “You're a little upset, so pay attention to the road, okay?”

“I am perfectly capable of driving safely.”

“Glad to hear it.” He shut the car door and stood back.

She shoved the key into the ignition and pulled away from the curb with only the slightest screech of burning rubber.

Jack looked at Merrick. “Let's go for a walk.”

ELIZABETH TOSSED THE
keys down onto the hall table and slammed the door closed. It was all she could do
not to scream with frustration. What else could possibly go wrong?

She stalked into the kitchen, grabbed the kettle, and turned on the faucet. It was as if some malign force was determined to jinx every attempt to recover the crystal. Or maybe the force was just bent on screwing up her relationship with Jack. Either way, the result was the same. She was no closer to getting her hands on Tyler Page and the crystal, and no closer to resolving the thorny questions embedded in her affair with Jack.

Why had Merrick chosen this week, of all times, to show up asking for money? It was her own fault, she thought. She should have returned his phone calls before she left Seattle. She groaned as she set the kettle on the stove. Aunt Sybil would have told her that that's what she got for trying to avoid a problem.

The phone rang just as she was pouring the boiling water over the loose green tea in the pot. She reached for the kitchen extension with her free hand.

“Hello?”

“I'm calling for Jack Fairfax.” The voice was low, urgent, male. “Tell him it's important.”

She heard voices in the background. They sounded like they were coming from a sound track. “Who is this?”

“Just get him, will you? I gotta talk to him. He's expecting my call. It's a business thing, y'know?”

Intuition kicked in. “Is this Leonard Ledger, by any chance?”

There was a short pause on the other end of the line.

“I gotta talk to Fairfax.”

“Jack isn't here right now. Can I take a message?”