Gift of Gold (Gift #1)

"What was your plan, Caitlin?" Verity demanded softly.

Caitlin looked at Tavi and then back at Verity. "It was simple enough. You've been bait all along. I intended to use you as bait again after the ball tonight."

"Bait!"

Jonas felt murderous all over again but he held on to his temper. It was the only way he could get the whole story, "Let's have it, Caitlin."

"Very well. You have a right to know. The pieces of my plan for revenge came together very slowly over a long period of time. I wanted Kincaid to die on that rapier. I needed him to die that way. But there was a problem. I knew no one who could or would kill a man in that way."

"Except me when I was under the influence of the past."

She nodded. "About a year ago I remembered you and your abilities and I got the first glimmer of a plan. But by then you had disappeared. You'd been gone from Vincent for four years and no one there knew what had happened to you. I finally found you down in Mexico. Money will buy anything, including very good private investigation services. But before I could think of a way to approach you and ask for your assistance, you came north on your own and went to work for Verity. Tavi and I went to the Sequence Springs Spa to meet you and to determine what the relationship was between you and Verity. I realized when I met you that you would never willingly help me, regardless of how much money I offered. You had the makings of a condottiere but you weren't a true mercenary.

Money alone would not buy you. And I soon realized you didn't particularly like me."

"But there was Verity," Jonas supplied harshly.

Caitlin nodded sadly. "There was Verity. I realized almost immediately that the key to using you was Verity."

"That's why you were so eager to make me into your only friend in the world other than Tavi," Verity said bitterly.

Caitlin looked at her. "I want you to know that for me the friendship became real. I know you will never feel that way toward me now, but I will always remember your kindness and your generosity to me."

"Forget that bull and finish the story," Verity ordered.

"I think you can guess the conclusion. I came up with a plan after I saw you and Jonas together. I asked you here the first time so that Tavi and I could run a small experiment to make certain the rapier we had found would have the desired effect on Jonas. The rapier cost me a fortune. It was not one of the swords that came with this house. It was in the hands of a private collector and supposedly was associated with an old tale of rape and murder. There was a camera in Jonas's room that first night.

We saw the strong effect the blade had on him. I knew then he still had the talent."

"Dammit to hell," Jonas muttered.

Caitlin ignored him, speaking earnestly to Verity. It was obvious she was weighted down with a dull guilt now that it was all over. Jonas could find no charity in his heart, however. He hoped the woman felt guilty for the rest of her life for having jeopardized Verity. He would have liked to take a little vengeance of his own right then, but he knew Verity would be furious if he tried.

"I made my plans for the Renaissance ball, knowing from what I had read in the research reports that the more closely the present resembled the past, the stronger the weapon's effect would be on Jonas.

That rapier dates from the Renaissance, the era to which Jonas is most sensitive, and had been carried by a high-ranking nobleman who would have attended such affairs as the one I tried to reconstruct tonight."

"So the ball and the costumes and everything else were designed more or less to put Jonas in the mood for killing, is that it?" Verity asked tightly.

"I had intended Jonas to find Kincaid in your room after the ball tonight. I knew that if I put the blade in Quarrel's hand then, he would be swamped with the desire to kill Kincaid. That blade had once been used to avenge a rape. I was certain that when Jonas encountered a similar situation tonight, the past and the present would blend in his mind to the point where he could think of nothing else except killing Kincaid."

"How did you plan to get Kincaid to come to my room?" Verity asked coolly. "I'm hardly his type."

"Don't be a fool, Verity," Jonas growled.

She shot him a disturbed glance. "Well, it's true. I'm not his type at all. You saw the kind of women who work for him."

"They were camouflage," Jonas said bluntly. "Socially acceptable. And not nearly as tempting to him as you would have been. I saw the way he looked at you that day when we went to his office."

"Jonas is right," Caitlin said heavily. "The moment I met you I knew you would be the perfect lure for Kincaid. He always had a lust for destroying innocence."

"I'm not exactly innocent," Verity exploded.

"Stop bragging," Jonas muttered.

"Well, I'm not innocent! Why does everyone keep acting as though I am?"

So much for the sweet-natured cosseting he had been receiving, Jonas thought with a flash of amusement. Verity was clearly annoyed now. The little tyrant did not like the accusation of naivete. She failed to understand that the air of innocence about her was related to her genuineness, her integrity, her willingness to take people like Caitlin Evanger at face value. It had nothing to do with her sexual status.

For all her much-vaunted education and unusual upbringing, Verity Ames needed a keeper, Jonas decided.

"You and Kincaid would not have agreed on what constitutes innocence," Caitlin said gently. "I was certain he would find you quite interesting. I remembered his tastes all too well. I was once very much like you in some respects. I took people at face value. I believed in them. I dealt honestly with the world and expected the same in return. My sympathies were easily aroused. I could go on, but I'm sure you get the point. There is a freshness about you that Kincaid found deeply intriguing. Did you know that you were one of the first things he inquired about tonight when he was introduced to me?"

"No," Verity breathed. "No, I didn't know that." She looked dazed. Jonas stroked her hair soothingly while he stifled the remnants of his own murderous emotions. There was no point in getting all worked up about Kincaid again. The man was dead.

Caitlin looked at Verity. "I went to Sequence Springs without a clear-cut plan of action. I just wanted to check out Quarrel and his current situation. But once I met you, I knew I had all the elements for my little drama. You were the key that brought everything together."

"You mean," Jonas corrected roughly, "that you knew Verity was the key you could use to force Kincaid and me into a confrontation."