He never wondered for long. The solution to the mystery was especially apparent tonight; she stood beside him, her arm slipped comfortably around his waist, sharing the view.
"It's a lovely night," she murmured close to his ear.
"Yes," he responded, concentrating on drawing together details into a cohesive experience. A gentle breeze against his skin, the intermittent chirping of a cricket that had somehow hidden among his plants, the scent of the perfume Skalany had dabbed on for the occasion--all combined into a sensual whole.
"And peaceful. You seem to have that effect. When I'm with you, I can't help but see the world around me in a new and tranquil light."
"Ah..." He nodded. "I have often found it quite valuable to view the world through another's eyes."
"Really?" The note of surprise in her voice caught his attention. "Have you...have you ever looked through my eyes, Caine?"
"Of course. Your eyes see things so clearly."
"For instance?"
His lips curved up and he cocked his head. "Peter."
"Peter?" She raised her eyebrows. "In what way?"
He shrugged. "You know him as the man he has become, rather than the boy he once was."
"Well, sometimes your vision is more accurate than mine in that respect. For a grown man, he sure can act like a twelve-year-old. No offense."
"None...taken." He began to find it difficult to focus on their conversation as her left hand started toying mischievously with his top button.
"Like this afternoon at the precinct," she went on, despite the effect she was having on him, "when I told him I was coming to see you." She unfastened the first button and went to work on the second. "He doesn't want to believe that we--that I have strong feelings for you."
He heard the slight hesitation, the tone of uncertainty he recognized from times he had spoken with his son, the silent plea for reassurance. She didn't want to presume to put his feelings into words, for fear he would contradict her. He realized to his chagrin that he had inadvertently mistaken her strength for surety, and that he had been neglecting an essential part of their relationship. He couldn't expect her to know his heart if he didn't tell her.
He brushed his fingers lightly over her temple, drawing them down and tracing the line of her face. "As do I for you," he said. He cupped her chin tenderly. "I love you."
Her glowing reaction to those few words was a joy to behold. He asked himself why he had never uttered them before, when it obviously pleased her to hear them. Could it be he assumed that she knew? Or had he simply balked at admitting it to himself? He tried to accept all of his emotions, but he could never be completely successful, especially with the strongest ones.
She hooked a finger around his necklace and tugged, bringing his face closer to hers. "Do you really mean that? I know you're a man of mystery, but a lady likes to be told once in a while. A little sweet-talking never hurt anyone."
"Ah. In that case..." He closed the remaining distance between them, planting a gentle kiss on her lips. "I love you." He kissed her again, more deeply. "I love you."
"Hmm..." She began leading him inside, off the balcony. "I could get used to this."
He had just taken a step to follow when a mental cry froze him in place. Shock--pain--fear--darkness. "Peter!" he gasped, reeling from the abrupt attack.
"What he doesn't know can't hurt him."
"No, Peter has been injured. He is in danger."
At the keyword "danger" she switched gears into cop mode. "Do you know where he is?"
He shook his head. "Not...exactly. He is close."
"All right. I'll go down to my car and radio in, see if they can tell me."
"I must--"
"I know, I know. Just wait for me, okay? You may need backup."
Caine fastened his seat belt just before she swerved into a hard right. "Peter is injured...but not seriously." He paused, attempting to concentrate on his son despite the rough ride. "For now."
"Yeah, well, I intend to get us there before anything worse happens--and knowing Peter, that could be at any moment." She wrenched the steering wheel and pulled into the library parking lot beside a familiar Stealth. "At least we know he made it this far." She snatched her gun from the glove compartment and scrambled to get out of the car, Caine right behind her.
"My son is here," he declared.
"Okay, you take the front door, I'll take the side. Backup should be here in a few minutes." She refused to dwell on the possibility that Caine might be wrong, that she had called in backup for no reason. She knew by now that his instincts were often more reliable than other people's solid evidence. "You got it? All right, let's go!"
She dashed across the parking lot to the side door and tested it. Locked. From the sign posted, the library had been closed for nearly two hours. "Great," she muttered. She needed to get Caine to teach her that lock-opening trick of his. In the meantime she just had to grit her teeth and kick. It swung open on the second try. Holding her gun at the ready, she crept inside.
The interior was dark, lit only by a few dim fluorescent bulbs and the exit signs. She stalked forward carefully, checking behind each shelf, until she reached the stairwell at the far side of the room. She followed it down, alerted by the muffled sounds that floated to her ears from somewhere below.
She reached the last step, passed the restrooms, and peered around the corner. She had found the source of the disturbance, though she wasn't the first. She should have known Caine would zero in on his son.
Now that her eyes were adjusted to the low light, she saw that Peter had barricaded himself in the children's section behind a shelf of Hardy Boys books, but he didn't appear to be moving. A short distance away, at the circulation desk, Caine grappled with three black-clad figures. He must not have arrived long ago, because all three were still on their feet.
So intent was she on locating the two Caines, she nearly missed the rustle of movement off to her right, in the audio/visual section. She dropped into a wary crouch at the sound.
"I told you this would bring him," came a masculine whisper. The top of a head and the muzzle of a gun poked above the front shelf.
Not trusting herself to shoot the gun out of his hand in the dim light, Skalany sprang forward, ducked around the shelf, and slammed into the speaker, knocking him to the ground. His shot went wild, nicking the mural painted on one of the library walls but doing no other damage. She then took out his companion with an elbow to the face.
The shooter grabbed the shelf to steady himself and toppled a row of videocassettes in her direction. She managed to block them, but she didn't recover in time to prevent the man from escaping.
"Damn!" she grumbled, rubbing a tender spot on her forearm destined to become a bruise. She pulled out her handcuffs and snapped them on the unlucky man she had incapacitated, then stood and made her way over to a light switch and illuminated the scene.
Caine had polished off his adversaries, as she had expected. Two of them lay crumpled on the ground; presumably the other had gotten away with the gunman. Caine was helping a groggy Peter to stand. He looked up at the sudden brightness.
"How is he?" Skalany called, striding over to them and lowering her gun.
"He will be fine. However, he should go to the hospital."
"Why am I not surprised?" She looped Peter's other arm around her shoulders so that he was bracketed on both sides. "Come on, kid, let's get you out of here. Our backup can take care of these bozos well enough without us."