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“Maybe not,” Cam said. He’d caught a glimpse of Adair threading her way through the guests with Rexie and Barry in tow.
Once she’d entered the room, she beamed a smile at everyone. “Mr. and Mrs. Maitland, this is a first at Castle MacPherson. Today you are going to get two weddings for the price of one.”
* * *
IT WAS A double wedding day he would never forget, Cam decided. Two for the price of one is exactly what Adair had delivered. Cam stood with his brother at the edge of the ballroom terrace as Dr. Barry Carlson danced with his bride under the stars. Bunny Maitland was giving instructions to a photographer while Adair stood at the edge of the dance floor waiting to cue the bride’s father. The young couple had been remarried beneath the stone arch just as the sun had set on the lake. By a real minister this time.
“Good work, bro,” Cam murmured to his brother.
“I’d say it was good work all around.” Daryl joined them and passed out beers.
“Compared to the two of you, my extraction mission wasn’t much of a challenge,” Duncan said. “All I had to do was explain what had evidently been going on to Barry. His mother caved right away and admitted to conspiring with Bunny Maitland. But she’d been having second thoughts for months because her son wasn’t happy, and he was still calling Rexie. The truth was he’d been planning a trip back to Long Island to see if she’d at least talk to him in person. I’m really sorry that I didn’t get him here in time to help out with the sting operation.”
“You did play a role in that,” Cam said. “The fact that I was able to let Adair know that you were bringing Carlson back helped her to pull off the fake wedding. And you definitely played a role in getting Barry and Rexie their happy ending.”
On the dance floor, Winston Maitland cut in on the groom to dance with his daughter.
“Speaking of our little sting,” Daryl said, “I checked in with Sheriff Skinner and he says that MacDonald is still so angry with his old partner that he’s singing his head off. Which means that their victims will be getting at least some of their money back. The only thing he won’t admit to is breaking into the library. He admits that he knew about the missing sapphires, but never gave them much thought until he saw Adair and Vi unwrap the earring.”
Cam frowned. “That means there’s still someone out there who has been sneaking into the castle on a regular basis.”
“A new higher-tech security system will put an end to that,” Duncan said.
“Not if what they’re after is the rest of Eleanor’s dowry,” Cam countered. “And now that one of the pieces has shown up, I’d be more motivated than ever to find the rest.”
Duncan sipped his beer. “Since it looks like the two of you will be paying regular visits to the castle, you’ll just have to track them down first.”
Cam nearly choked on his beer, and Daryl laughed. “We always have room for an FBI profiler. Why don’t you join us?”
Duncan raised his free hand, palm outward. “Not me. I’m staying as far away from that stone arch as I can get.”
“Good luck with that,” Daryl said. “I’m going to dance with my fiancée.”
“Fiancée?” Cam murmured as Daryl walked away.
Duncan clapped him on the shoulder. “I had a chat with Vi. Your boss doesn’t believe in wasting time.”
No, Daryl didn’t waste time. A good CIA agent didn’t. And Cam felt he’d wasted seven years already. But it was impossible to get Adair alone. The cake had to be cut, the bridal bouquet had to be tossed, an endless number of pictures had to be shot. And everyone wanted to dance with Adair. He’d had to cut in on the groom to get a word with her.
“You worked a miracle today,” he murmured as he pressed her close.
“No, the legend did all the work,” she said.
“You were the one who talked them into getting remarried here today.”
Adair smiled up at him. “I got the idea when they kissed beneath the stone arch. I mean—why not? Their fate was sealed.”
Hadn’t he thought the same thing when he’d seen them kiss? And his fate was sealed, too. For seven years he’d avoided accepting that.
“We need to talk,” he said.
“Sure. Later.” She smiled at him as the father of the bride cut in and whisked her away.
Cam tried to use the time as the wedding wound down to come up with a plan. He needed a good one.
* * *
THE LAST OF the guests were locating their cars when Adair slipped away to her office. She needed a moment to think. Barry and Rexie were going to stay in Glen Loch in a bed-and-breakfast. She’d arranged that right after she’d made a call to Reverend Foley. And they were going to talk about their future. Before they’d left the stone arch, they’d been talking about perhaps spending part of the year in Montana and part in New York.
The important thing was that they were talking. Nerves jittered in her stomach. They’d been dancing around there ever since Cam had told her they needed to talk. And he was looking for her even now.
Adair sank into her chair and dropped her head in her hands. She knew what he wanted to talk about. They’d made a deal. They would enjoy each other until his work here was done. And it was. Scalzo and his partner were under arrest and her wedding problem was solved. The fat lady had sung.
And she’d gotten just what she wanted—her Sutherland fantasy fling.
Unless you do something about it.
Lifting her head, she looked at the metal box. Then she tore a yellow sheet of paper off of a legal pad and wrote down what she really wanted before she placed it with her other dreams and fantasies. Maybe it was time she tapped into that power again. Grabbing the box, she hurried out of her office.
* * *
AFTER SEARCHING EVERYWHERE, Cam found her in the stone arch on her hands and knees. The moment he called her name, she rose and turned. As he walked toward her, the nerves that had been skittering through his system all afternoon intensified. She was the only woman who’d ever made him feel this way. The only one he’d ever wanted to plan for. To plan with.
He just had to pray that he could sell his plan to her.
The air was perfumed with flowers and moonlight gleamed in a bright path across the lake as he joined her beneath the stone arch. For just a moment, Cam had the feeling that they were not alone. He thought of all the couples through all the years who’d stood right where they were standing and who’d found what the legend promised. Looking into Adair’s eyes, he knew he wanted what they’d wanted.
“I want to talk to you about us,” he began.
Adair felt something tighten around her heart. Maybe she’d tapped out all the power by getting her fantasy fling.
“Things have happened very fast between us.”
She couldn’t seem to get a breath. He was going to say that they’d had a great time and now he had to go back with Daryl to D.C. and she would have to get ready for the next wedding. He’d be in touch. And he probably wouldn’t be.
She didn’t want to hear it. “I know what you’re going to say. You have to go back with Daryl. You’ll be in touch, but—”
“No. Yes.” He took her other hand, gripped both of them hard. “Don’t put words in my mouth. I’m having enough trouble finding the ones I want on my own. I’ve tried all day to come up with a plan. And I’m really lousy at this.”
“A plan?” She stared at him.
“There hasn’t been enough time. I want more…I need more.…”
“Time for what?” Then, because she saw some of the turmoil she was feeling in his eyes, she shut up.
Cam took a deep breath and let it out. “I want more time with you. I need more time to—I want to be able to give you your fantasy.”
“My fantasy?” Baffled, she stared at him. “Is that some kind of CIA code I’m supposed to crack?”
“No.” He released her hands to grip her shoulders. “I’m speaking in plain English. Here’s the plan. I want to give you your secret fantasy. I just need more time.”
She stared at him. “My secret—”
Then she suddenly got it. She pushed his hands away and then used her own to give him a shove hard enough to send him stumbling back against the wall. “You read what was in that metal box, didn’t you? How could you?”
“I’m a CIA agent. I’m curious. And I wanted to know more about you. Dammit, I’ve been wanting to know more about you since I was ten. And I think I fell in love with you the day our parents got married.”
Because her legs had gone suddenly weak, Adair sat down on the ledge that ran along one side of the arch.
“Well?” Cam asked.
For a moment, she couldn’t speak. He looked angry. And stunned. She could sympathize with the latter. “That’s what you wanted to talk to me about? That you fell in love with me seven years ago?”
