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“You haven’t looked in the mirror for a while?” Keefe Connellan asked in a dark voice.
Jewel sat back wearily. “Could this possibly be the nature of your enquiry, Mr. Connellan? My appearance?”
Though she spoke sardonically, inside her was growing panic, confusion, even fear.
“So it’s come to you at last. My, my, my!” he drawled, eyes snapping.
In desperation, Jewel turned to Lady Copeland, who was now excessively pale. “Please tell me! I swear I don’t know what this is all about.” Lady Copeland was gazing at her with such a strange expression but for the moment seemed quite unable to reply.
“We didn’t get much notice, either,” Keefe Connellan said, his handsome features drawn tight. “Tell me, are there many golden-haired, black-browed, sapphire-eyed women in your family?” he asked. “Don’t look so stunned. You’re a beautiful woman with very distinctive features.”
“So?” Jewel spread her hands. “Please continue.”
“But, Ms. Bishop, you’ve even got your hair cut the same way. Tell me, are you and Skinner enjoying this? I assure you your enjoyment won’t last long.”
Jewel stood up, her mind racing. This meeting had implications that were deeply disturbing. They could also cost her her job. “There’s no way I can continue to sit here and listen to this,” she said. “Either you come out with the information you appear to have, or I’ll break all the rules by walking out on you.” Arrogant son of a bitch. He could get her fired, but she no longer cared.
Behind her Lady Copeland sighed heavily. “My dear, I may be almost three times your age and I, too, am breaking all the rules by saying this, but you’re the living image of me when I was in my twenties.”
“The question is, why haven’t you noticed?” Keefe Connellan demanded before Jewel could hope to speak.
He moved suddenly, taking her by the arm and guiding her toward a gilded mirror that hung between two ceiling-high Georgian bookcases.
“Please let go of me,” Jewel said from between clenched teeth. Her confusion was growing.
He removed his hand immediately but continued to watch her with careful eyes, their two heads reflected in the mirror. “Are you going to tell us what’s going on, Ms. Bishop?” he asked.
She felt as though she was hardly breathing. “Fine, there’s a resemblance,” she conceded. “I see it now, but I was never looking for it. Hardly! All I can say is that it’s a coincidence. And for the record, Blair Skinner has never remarked on any such resemblance.”
“He must have known,” Connellan said.
“Known what?” She swung on him. Tall herself, she had to look up at him. “What sense is there in keeping me in the dark? I’m not a fool. You seem to be implying that Blair Skinner and I have devised some strategy to bring me to Lady Copeland’s attention.”
“Haven’t you?” he challenged.
“Please, Keefe.” Lady Copeland spoke quietly.
Jewel ignored him and walked back to where Lady Copeland was sitting. She noticed that a fraction of color had come back into the woman’s face. Jewel sat down so her own face would be level with the older woman’s, staring into eyes she now saw with shocking clarity were indeed like her own. “I wouldn’t for the world be party to any plan to upset you, Lady Copeland. Neither would Blair Skinner. He respects you greatly. It was exactly as he said. I’ve done quite a bit of work on the Quinn Corp.–Omega takeover. I’m well thought of in this firm. He felt it was time I met some of our more important clients.”
“Surely you could up with something better than that?” Connellan stood tall, his expression cool and cutting. An imposing figure who clearly didn’t believe her.
“I don’t think I could come up with anything better than the truth. In any case, this isn’t a courtroom, Mr. Connellan,” she reminded him.
“But you’re playing a dangerous game.”
“Nonsense!” she said emphatically.
“Perhaps, my dear, we’ve all been taken by surprise?” Lady Copeland suggested, still looking as if she’d seen a ghost.
“Or you and Mr. Connellan have leapt to a conclusion,” Jewel countered. “I don’t allow myself to be used by anybody. That includes my boss.”
“Maybe you could visit me so I could find out more about you.” Lady Copeland for all her power and influence seemed to be pleading.
Jewel stared back at her, perturbed. “There can’t be any connection between us, Lady Copeland, no matter how strong the resemblance. Isn’t it said we all have a double somewhere?”
“Perhaps not so close to hand. I have to admit you play the game well,” Keefe Connellan said dryly.
Jewel faced him, terribly unnerved but determined not to be thrown off balance. “Game, what game?” she asked. “Why do you seem to think it’s your place to confront me, Mr. Connellan? Why this hostility? My God, it fills the room! I don’t feel the same antagonism coming from Lady Copeland.” It was perfectly true. Lady Copeland’s demeanor was curiously nonthreatening.
Connellan merely shrugged. “To answer your question, I’ve known Lady Copeland all my life. I care about her. We’re part of a tight circle. Whoever disturbs her, disturbs me. I wonder if you fully appreciate that.”
“I’m not afraid of you, Mr. Connellan.” Jewel met his gaze unflinchingly.
“Perhaps you should be.” A faint smile curved his mouth. “What was the plan? First the meeting, then the blackmail?”
It was an insult too great to be borne. Before she knew it, Jewel’s hand flew up spontaneously and she struck Keefe Connellan across his arrogant face.
The silence in the room was profound. Jewel felt her heart flutter.
“Oh God, I didn’t mean that,” she said.
“Yes, you did.” Connellan rubbed his cheek thoughtfully. “It’s a first, anyway. I’m sure you’ll tell me next that you’re the proud possessor of a black belt.”
“I apologize,” Jewel said, feeling his whole aura intensely. “But you have to admit you deserved it.”
“What else have you got up your sleeve?” he enquired with mock politeness.
Jewel was utterly exasperated. “I want to hold onto my job. I deeply regret this upset, but I feel I’m the innocent victim here.” She turned to Lady Copeland, who appeared to be hanging on her every word. “This is the first time I’ve ever laid eyes on you, Lady Copeland. I’m sorry if—for whatever reason—that makes you sad.” And sorrow was the expression printed on Davina Copeland’s face.
“Oh, it does, my dear.” Lady Copeland flung a narrow hand to her heart. “Forgive me, but…you’re not hiding anything from us?”
This would be ridiculous if it weren’t so disturbing. “I’m sorry, Lady Copeland. I’ve already told you no. If we’ve finished our conversation, I should get back to work.”
Again Keefe Connellan intervened. “So how did you get this job? Who offered it?” He glanced at his watch.
“I’m not sure this is any of your business, Mr. Connellan.”
“Oh, it is,” he muttered grimly.
“I was recommended to Mr. Skinner by Professor Goldner from the university,” she said, knowing he would check.
“So Skinner is definitely mixed up in it?”
Jewel sighed in disbelief. “I haven’t the vaguest idea what you mean. I came with very good references and recommendations. Let’s get that straight.”
“By all means,” he said tersely.
“I hope you’re discreet, Ms. Bishop?” Lady Copeland suddenly appealed to her.
Jewel frowned. “Lady Copeland, what do I have to be discreet about? Do you think people will gossip if they notice our strong resemblance?”
Keefe Connellan exhaled loudly. “You bet your life they will. It’s impossible to miss.”
“Do you think so? They’d have to be looking for a hidden mystery then,” Jewel said. “However, it hardly matters, since I don’t move in Lady Copeland’s circles.”
“No doubt Skinner hoped to change that?” He spoke so sharply his words gave Jewel a twinge of fear.
They stared at each other like combatants, neither yielding, both tense. “No need to investigate Blair Skinner,” Jewel said firmly. “He never puts a foot wrong.”
“You mean so far,” Connellan returned curtly. “Playing us for fools would guarantee disaster.” He moved then, touching Lady Copeland’s delicate shoulder. “I think we should go, Davina. Jacob will take you home and drop me on the way. I have an appointment with Drew Westaway uptown. I’d break it, but it’s critical.” He glanced at Jewel, brilliant black eyes narrowed. “You can inform your boss we’re leaving,” he said, his face taut.
“If that’s what you want. Let me say again that I deeply regret any upset I may unwittingly have caused you, Lady Copeland. I’ll speak of it to no one.”
Connellan laughed—an attractive if discordant sound. “That’s a bit rich. Skinner can’t wait to discuss this.”
“What do you expect, given your attack on me? Naturally I have to say something.”
“Of course. Is your mother in on this, too?”
Nothing so far had prepared Jewel for that. She went white. “My mother is a very sick woman, so watch it, Mr. Connellan. I’d just love to slap you again.”
“Only this time, I’ll deal with it,” he promised, gently propelling Lady Copeland to the door.
Nearing it, Lady Copeland paused. “If I asked you to come and visit me, would you consider it, Eugenie?” Her still-beautiful face revealed a strange longing.
Jewel found herself nodding, lured somehow by the use of her Christian name. “I think I want that, too, Lady Copeland, just so long as Mr. Connellan is nowhere nearby.”
“Are you sure about that, Davina?” Connellan shot a questioning look at her.
“Quite sure, my dear.” She smiled at him and patted his arm. “I need to learn more about Eugenie. You see that, don’t you?”
He turned, studying Jewel’s resolute stance. “I do, in a strange sort of way,” he admitted. “Just bear in mind that Ms. Bishop, for all her beauty and avowed brightness, could pry us all apart.”
Shaking inside but using her characteristic self-confidence as camouflage, Jewel went in search of Blair Skinner, finding him in the boardroom frowning over a coffee.
“Well?” He looked distressed, and was without his usual bold quip. “Can I go back into my office?”
“They’re gone, Blair.” Jewel resisted a groan. “Connellan had an appointment.”
“Mr. Connellan to you,” Skinner reminded her stonily and stood up. “I don’t understand this. They left without speaking to me?”
“I’m sure Mr. Connellan will be remedying that,” Jewel answered abruptly, bringing a chill to Skinner’s eyes.
“What exactly is that supposed to mean?”
“Beats the hell out of me, Blair.” She gave a brittle laugh. “It’ll be mentioned, so I’m not betraying a confidence. It seems that both of them—Lady Copeland and Mr. Connellan—figure we’re playing some kind of game with them. I’m quoting Mr. Connellan himself.”
Skinner actually blanched. “My God, Eugenia, you can’t be serious.”
“I’m deadly serious,” she said.
He looked at her with a grim expression. “You’re hiding something from me, aren’t you,” he accused. “I suspected it right from the beginning.”
“Nevertheless you hired me. Why?” The why was starting to worry her.
“Because I thought there was something special about you,” he answered testily. “Don’t act like a dolt. It doesn’t suit you. What caused Lady Copeland to faint? Keefe looked at me quite murderously. It was all about you, wasn’t it. And your father. What on earth did he do? If you tell me he made off with Copeland money, I promise I won’t scream. God knows, old Sir Julius broke a few laws. But then, he had us legal eagles to get him out of trouble. What does hurt is the fact that you’ve never seen fit to confide in me, Eugenie.”
“I never thought I had much to confide.”
“Sit down,” Skinner advised briskly. “I know you well enough to realize beneath that brazen exterior you’re falling to pieces.”
Jewel took a seat. “I think you’re right. What about getting me a cup of coffee—to show you care?”
This was received with a scowl. “You’re really something. You know that?” He disappeared, then returned a moment later with two steaming china mugs. “Give it to me straight. Any lies, and I promise you’ll be out of here just like that!” He snapped his fingers.
“You and me both.” Jewel took a tentative sip. Too hot. At least the coffee was good. “Blair, I’m going to ask you something.” She switched her eyes from the mug to him. “And I’d appreciate the truth. Have you been aware of the resemblance between Lady Copeland and me?”
Skinner’s jaw dropped in amazement. Either he was a wonderful actor or he had just suffered a severe shock. “What are you saying, Eugenie?”
“Have—you—ever—noticed?” She leaned closer to him, deliberately spacing her words.
“Sweet, sweet Lord! What a fool I am.”
“Welcome to the club. I take it you haven’t. However, the cat is out of the bag. Whatever cat it might happen to be.” Jewel had just enough left in her to speak flippantly. It was her way of overcoming her own tremendous shock. “Lady Copeland told me she thought I was the image of herself when young.”
Skinner put his knuckles in his mouth. He rose to his feet shouting, “That’s right!” then fell back, lowering his head and holding it in his hands. “And they think the two of us set up a meeting!” he muttered despairingly.
“I think they saw themselves as two blackmail victims.”
“If I’ve made enemies of those two, I’ll have to move abroad. Oh, my God!” he cried. “I could weep.”
“Ordinarily I’d enjoy that, but bear with me,” Jewel said, taking another gulp of the strong coffee. “I told them you’d never, ever remarked on even a passing resemblance. You are a man of great integrity. I kept assuring them of that. I told them you respected Lady Copeland far too much to ever want to upset her. I explained that I’d never laid eyes on her in my entire life. The whole thing was one monumental coincidence.”
“My dear, my mother taught me to be very suspicious of monumental coincidences,” Skinner said. “This is not the end,” he predicted. “So, how can we make sense of this? Now that the scales have fallen from my eyes, I can see you’re a dead ringer for Davina. I knew there was something familiar about you, right from the beginning. I even ran through a few film stars. The young Lana Turner with blue, blue eyes. That kind of look. Soft, sexy yet challenging.”
Jewel gazed at him in astonishment. “You thought all this, Blair? Shame on you. I’ve always seen you as a good, solid father figure.” A dreadful lie.
He shook his head. “Just an objective judgment. I have eyes. Or so I believed.” He stared at her directly. “What would you advise?”
“You mean, you’re going to listen?” This all felt like a strange dream, except that she was actually hurting.
“What I’m saying is you were there the whole time. How did it all end?”
“In Lady Copeland inviting me to visit her.”
Skinner made a whistling sound through his mouth. It could have been admiration. “And Keefe?”
“What a gorgon!” Jewel said with a shudder.
