The Seductive Impostor (7 page)

Mickey looked up with a lupine grin, then trotted down the hall toward the stairs.

Kee opened the door to find Rachel sprawled on her back, her arms thrown over her head, one leg hanging out over the edge of the bed. He hadn't lied when he told her they were only aspirins he'd given her, but it seemed the lady was still suffering from a narcotic hangover.

“Is the lass awake?” Duncan asked, stepping into the room, Jason right behind him.

Kee looked down at Rachel and softly shook her. He turned back to his men and shook his head.

Jason stepped closer. “You've got to wake her up. The cellar's flooding at the rate of a foot an hour,” he said, his voice laced with impatience. And frustration. Kee knew that Jason was more mad at himself than at this newest crisis they were facing.

“We've tried every damn valve and switch we can get our hands on,” Duncan added, also walking up to the bed to peer down at Rachel before he looked back at Kee. “We can't stop it. The subbasement's nearly full. In another hour this damned overdressed tomb will be floating off its foundation.”

It was a good thing Kee was watching his houseguest as Duncan spoke or he would have missed it. Rachel Foster was playing possum. Her nose twitched as she fought to stifle a smile.

“Miss Foster's been on some mighty powerful drugs,” Kee drawled, crossing his arms over his chest. “And she's had a hard night, what with breaking and entering, beating me up, and then trying to outrun Mickey. We'll probably have to throw her into the subbasement to wake her up.”

And there it was again. Another twitch. Only this time she was trying to stifle a frown.

Lord, he was enjoying this game.

It was Duncan who gasped for her. “Hell, boss, we can't do that,” his second-in-command growled, his stance defensive, as if to protect their guest. “She'd drown. Let's just try getting some coffee down her.”

Kee witnessed a shudder run through Rachel.

“A cold shower would work,” Jason interjected, sounding slightly frantic as he looked at his watch. “Let's just get her up. The tide's rising as we speak.”

Duncan reached for Rachel, and Kee simply waited. As soon as the man's hands touched the blankets, her eyes shot open. “I'm awake!” she shouted.

The two startled men jumped back.

Jason recovered first. “The tide's flooding the basement,” he told her. “I can't get the water shut off.”

Rachel tried to scoot into an upright position against the headboard. Duncan reached out and lifted her there. She squeaked, her eyes going wide with surprise.

“Miss Foster. Did you hear me? The basement's going to be flooded in less than an hour,” Jason repeated, leaning down to look her in the eye.

Judging by her calm, if amused, expression, Kee surmised they were not in danger of drowning.

She lifted her good hand and waved Jason's concern away. “You must have found the turbine valves,” she said, giving him a reassuring smile.

He answered her with a frown. “What turbine?”

“In the subbasement. When the system's turned on, Sub Rosa uses tidal water to generate power. If the tide's coming in, the reservoir is filling. The fall and rise of the tide turns the turbines, creating electricity,” she explained.

Kee was impressed—with her and with her father's genius. He'd wondered what the electricity bill was going to be for this monstrosity. Thaddeus Lakeman had been rich, but he'd also been smart.

Jason's eyebrows rose into his hairline. “Sub Rosa generates its own power?” he asked, his awe as great as his glee.

Jason was the engineer in the group. Kee relied on him to keep the computers and mechanical side of his business running smoothly. Jason was a soldier first, but a damn handy one.

“Of course,” Rachel answered, smiling hugely now, as if the man's joy were contagious. “It would cost a fortune to run this place otherwise. Sub Rosa's hooked into the local grid, and has been running on purchased power for the last three years. You must have accidentally started up the tidal generator.”

Jason stepped closer to the bed. “Could you maybe come downstairs and show me how to get the storm shutters open?” He shook his head. “That control room looks like it belongs in a nuclear power plant.”

Kee wholeheartedly agreed. He'd taken one look inside the previously locked chamber in the basement and hadn't been able to stifle a shudder. He'd quickly called Jason and left him to figure things out.

Kee stepped up to the bed. “You feeling up to a chair ride?” he asked, smiling at the way she refused to look at him.

She shrugged. “Not really.”

He'd expected that answer. He started to reach for her, but stopped when Matthew came rushing into the room, out of breath and holding a squirming, hissing bundle in his arms. Peter was not two steps behind him, also carrying something.

Kee shook his head in disgust. Two more of his battle-hardened men had just bit the dust. They were both grinning like old women, their expressions so eager to please it was painful to look at.

“We found your cat!” Matthew said, just as the jacket in his arms exploded. Fur and claws and fangs came flying into the room ahead of him, leaving bloody claw tracks on his neck. An enraged cat landed on all fours and ran under the bed.

Kee looked over to see Rachel wearing the most horrified, incredulous look he'd ever seen. She darted a glance at Duncan, then at Jason, and then at Kee before she looked back at Matthew.

“Th-thank you,” she said in a whisper. “I was very worried about him.”

“He's a girl!” Peter interjected, walking up to the bed and setting his burden down more carefully. “He's got kittens.”

Kee watched Rachel eye the squirming, mewling bundle as if she expected snakes to come slithering out of it.

“Yeah, Miss Foster. You're a mama,” Matthew said, his harsh features softening as he leaned over and opened the moving jacket on the bed.

Three little faces blinked up at him.

“Their eyes are open,” Jason observed, turning to stare at Rachel. “How long has your cat been missing?”

Seemingly at a loss for words, Rachel darted a look at Kee before she turned back to the kittens. “Ah…about…ah…ten days?” she said, ending her claim on a question.

“Then why were ya so determined to find him last night?” Duncan asked, his eyes narrowing with suspicion.

“Yes, Miss Foster, why is that?” Kee asked, making sure there was no sign of amusement in his voice.

“Ah, well, I was getting really worried about him. I mean her,” she said, not looking up. “And I thought I'd have a better chance of finding him at night.”

“What's his name, then?” Matthew asked, the softness leaving his face with each contradictory word she spoke.

“Mabel,” she blurted, her cheeks nearly crimson now.

“So you knew he was a girl cat?” Peter asked, glaring at her with enough force to push her off the bed.

Kee almost laughed out loud. Rachel was beginning to squirm worse than the kittens. She opened her mouth to answer Peter, when the cat in question suddenly jumped up on the bed. The poor harried mother immediately curled herself around her babies, then turned unblinking, threatening eyes on the men.

“Don't you want to pat her?” Matthew asked. “You haven't seen her in ten days.”

“He's—she's a little riled right now,” Rachel said, balling her hands into fists and tucking them a safe distance away from the cat. “What I'd really like is for you gentlemen to leave us alone for our reunion.”

Kee grabbed the wheelchair he'd brought up earlier and pushed it up beside the bed. “I think—Mabel, is it?—would be better left alone to calm down,” he said, and he reached down to lift Rachel off the bed.

She squeaked and tried to swat him away, but he lifted her into his arms and straightened.

“If you want to eat, lady, you're going to have to earn your keep,” he told her, ignoring her glare. “This place is like a tomb with the storm shutters closed. It's time we put you to work.”

“I really
will
flood the cellar,” she threatened, her mutinous eyes snapping at him.

Kee lost his humor. “No you won't.” Kee set her in the wheelchair and began to wheel his guest to the hall, but stopped the moment he realized she was staring at his men.

“Oh, forgive me,” he said, waving at them. “This is Duncan,” he told her as Duncan nodded. “And Matthew and Peter, who found your cat,” he explained as Matthew and Peter nodded. “And Jason is the one dancing from foot to foot, eager to get his hands on that control room. Gentlemen, this is Rachel Foster.”

Wide-eyed, Rachel nodded with each introduction, then said rather hesitantly, “It-it's nice to meet you.”

Stifling a chuckle, Kee wheeled Rachel into the hall, both of them ignoring the small parade that formed behind them. He pushed back a smile when, glancing back into the room, he saw the slowly relaxing mother cat begin to wash her babies. Rachel's lies were catching up with her. If she'd ever seen that cat before today, Kee would eat the scrawny thing.

“Where are you taking me?” she asked, trying to turn to scowl at him.

“To the stairs. Unless you're ready to show me the elevators the blueprints referred to. The choice is yours, Miss Foster, the elevator or my arms?”

“They're at the end of the hall,” she snapped.

Jason turned and headed down the hall, the other men following behind. Kee rolled Rachel after them.

“There's nothing here but a blank wall,” Jason said, staring at the oak wainscoting.

“Thadd didn't want to spoil the ambience of the house,” Rachel explained as they came up beside the men. “He hid the elevators. Just turn the bottom of that wall sconce.”

Jason reached up and gently twisted the bottom flange of the wall light, and the wooden panel they were all facing silently glided open, revealing a very modern, very small elevator car.

Four sets of male eyebrows rose, and Kee barely stifled a snort. He looked down to find Rachel grinning.

“There's not enough room for all of us,” she said.

“Where does it go?” Jason asked, stepping in and looking at the control panel.

“It reaches the basement and all the way up to the third floor. There's another one just like it in the west wing.”

“Jason, you and Duncan meet us in the basement control room. Peter, find Luke, and both of you see about rousting up some food. Matthew, find a box and some kitty litter for Miss Foster's pet. Where's Mickey?”

Kee saw Rachel stiffen at the mention of his own pet. He pushed her into the elevator.

“He's outside. We shut the door in his face, because he was scaring Mabel,” Peter said, turning to leave.

“Leave him there, but find him some dinner as well. Then maybe he'll feel less like eating our neighbor and her cat,” Kee added, just before he pushed the
DOWN
button and the door closed.

The nearly silent hum of the elevator was all the sound in the car for the beginning of the descent. Finally, without looking up, Rachel spoke.

“He…he's a wicked big dog,” she whispered.

“Actually, he's a wolf,” Kee explained, watching her stiffen again. “His name is Mickey Mouse, and he belongs to my daughter.”

She turned her head to look up at him, her expression horrified. “You gave a wolf as a pet to a little girl? You aren't worried he'll eat her?”

Kee shrugged. “She'll probably eat him first.”

Her expression turned to a haughty glare. “You don't worry much about anything, do you? Like the rules against keeping endangered wild animals and kidnapping your neighbor?”

He shrugged again, biting back a smile. “Not particularly.”

“You're very arrogant.”

“Thank you.”

“It wasn't a compliment,” she snapped, turning back to face front.

The elevator stopped and the door opened, but Kee didn't wheel her out. “What about you, Miss Foster? Do you always follow the rules?”

“Of course.”

“Last I knew, breaking and entering was illegal,” he said.

“Which is why I don't do it,” she shot back.

He chuckled aloud as he finally pushed the wheelchair into the basement. He turned down the long, wide corridor and opened the last door on the right.

“Why have the control room for the entire house way down here?” he asked, as they entered the room full of computers and panels. It really did look like a nuclear power plant.

“There's no need to come down here that often,” she answered, rolling her chair forward to reach one of the consoles. “Once Sub Rosa's up and running, everything can be controlled by the computers in the kitchen and the library. This is more like the physical plant.”