Which Twin?
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Except, she doubted that the price had changed since the last time she considered such a move. And her soul was no longer for sale.
Rose sighed and swallowed her last bite of the vegetable foccacia, then realized she hadn’t said one word to the man who’d paid for it. Lovely manners, she chided herself before saying, “Great view you have here.”
Her words had caught Logan with his mouth full of meatball sandwich. In reply he lifted his eyebrows and nodded.
“Yeah, it is,” he said after swallowing. He glanced around slowly. “I’d almost forgotten about this place. The real estate agent walked me through this area when she showed me the condo, but this is the first chance I’ve had to spend any time up here.”
Rose shook her head. She didn’t know why his words surprised her. Her experience with Joshua Whitney should have taught her how little the very well-off really knew about getting the most out of life.
“Something wrong?”
Logan’s question pulled Rose’s gaze from the magnificent San Francisco skyline rising beyond the glass wall in front of her. When she turned to him, the corner of her eye caught a glimpse of the green water stretching out toward the east bay.
“Yeah,” she said slowly. “I tend to get irritated when natural beauty is ignored.”
Logan’s eyes narrowed. “Ignored? By me?”
“Yep. You have this great place you can use anytime, and you don’t even take the trouble to come up here.”
“And that bothers you, because…”
“Because,” Rose started, then shut her mouth. Waste of time, she told herself. She’d had this conversation before, or at least a strikingly similar one. And the last thing she needed at the moment was to have someone point out how naive and unsophisticated she was, then attempt to teach her about the “finer things in life,” like caviar.
Unable to prevent the shudder brought on by the thought of those salty, slimy little eggs, she made the gesture into a shrug.
“Never mind. Look, the lunch was delicious and the view spectacular. I appreciate your sharing both of them with me, but—”
“But,” Logan broke in, “we have more important matters to discuss. I want you to stay at the Benedicts’ house a bit longer, to pretend to be Anna. You won’t have to do much. Everyone already thinks that you are—”
“No,” Rose managed to break in.
Logan frowned. “Why not?”
“Why not?” Rose echoed. “My life is in Seattle. I have…things to do. Obligations to fulfill.” A life to put back together, she finished silently.
Logan seemed to consider her words carefully before he leaned forward, looked deep into her eyes and asked, “You mean to tell me you’re going to leave without meeting Anna? You claim that you’ve come all the way from Seattle to find a view that has been haunting your dreams for years, learned that it can be seen from the room belonging to a woman who looks exactly like you, and you’re going to leave without taking the trouble to meet this person?”
Rose could hardly miss the way his tone mocked the words she’d so recently flung at him. She also thought she caught a teasing glint in his eyes, but his lips showed no hint of a smile.
“It’s not the same thing,” she replied. “Besides, as I said, I have a—”
“Life to get back to. Of course. You have kids?” Rose shook her head.
“A husband?”
Again Rose shook her head. Careful to keep her voice neutral, she replied, “Not any longer.”
Logan lifted one eyebrow. “Bad breakup?”
“No, actually. I think we were both relieved when it ended.”
With that response, Rose shifted her attention to the skyline again. That wasn’t the complete truth, of course, but she didn’t think this man needed to hear the entire story.
After several seconds she heard Logan ask softly, “Then what are you running away from, Rosie?”
She turned to face him quickly. “My name is Rose. Only my mother—” She broke off, took a deep breath then said slowly, “I’m not running away from anything. I just want to go home. Where I belong.”
“I see.” His expression was skeptical. “And you’re not even curious about Anna?”
“Of course I am. However, I don’t have the kind of money, or the time at my disposal to—”
“As far as money goes,” Logan broke in, “I have enough at my disposal to make it worth your while to stick around. And I’m more than willing to do so.”
Every muscle in Rose’s body stiffened. The rich and powerful had one easy answer to everything. She knew better.
Getting to her feet she said, “I’m not interested in your money.” Then she turned and headed toward the elevator.
Chapter 5
Surprised by Rose’s reaction, Logan still managed to stand and reach her side in three long strides. When he placed a hand on her shoulder, she whirled toward him.
“What do you want?” she asked.
Beneath her angry scowl Logan could see fear. He found himself scowling in return as he became aware of the sudden urge to pull her into his arms, to reassure this woman as he had so often comforted Anna, with a brotherly hug.
However the tingle in the hand that gripped Rose’s shoulder warned that his feelings while holding this woman would hardly be brotherly. This didn’t make any sense, but then none of this made any sense—not Anna’s sudden breakdown, nor the fact that she’d run away from the doctor she’d trusted to treat her and every member of the family for over ten years. And the presence of Rose Delancey, with her uncanny resemblance to the missing Anna made the least sense of all.
Logan wasn’t used to things not making sense. For more years than he could count, he’d worked at perfecting the art of making things fall into place. At this moment, though, the only way he could imagine getting things to work out right was to buy some time.
And Rose Delancey was the only currency at hand.
“I’m not asking this on a whim,” he said quietly. “I need you to pretend to be Anna a while longer.”
Rose’s dark blue eyes grew wary. “Why?”
“Because I need time to find her.”
“Isn’t that a job for the police? From what I understand, she’s been missing nearly twenty-four hours now. Put them on the case.”
Logan shook his head. “That would mean telling the family that you aren’t Anna, that the real Anna is off somewhere, getting into God-knows-what sort of—”
“Trouble,” Rose broke in. “Exactly my point. If she’s as…unbalanced as her mother seems to think she is, you shouldn’t be standing here talking to me. You should be notifying the authorities, getting an all-points bulletin out or putting her picture on a milk carton. Whatever it takes to get her back under proper care.”
Logan considered her words before shaking his head. “First off, I’m 99 percent certain that Elise is exaggerating Anna’s mental state. When I listened to the messages Anna left on my machine, she sounded urgent but hardly unbalanced.”
“Then it’s normal for Anna to insist she was adopted?”
“More or less. From the age of eight or so, Anna would periodically insist that she was a changeling, that she really didn’t belong in the family. After a while it became a family joke, along with the imaginary friend Anna invented.” He paused. “The Benedicts’ idea of a joke, that is. It was more like a not-so-gentle chiding.”
Rose noticed the way Logan’s features tightened, as if he was trying to brush away an unwanted thought before he spoke again.
“Anyway, I suspect that when Anna confronted her parents with whatever new proof she’s come up with this time, Elise reacted with her I-refuse-to-discuss-this-until-you-calm-down routine, which frustrates Anna no end. She probably became even more emotional, causing Elise to imagine a threat to Robert’s campaign, then bring on the doctor and the mental health clinic. Of course, if I hadn’t…”
Logan let his words trail off as he thought about the trip to France, where he’d been dispatched to deal with the winery Elise had inherited.
“If you hadn’t what?” Rose asked in a tight voice.
Logan released a sigh. “If I hadn’t been out of the country, I would have been here to run interference, and the entire thing would most likely have blown over. But I wasn’t, and now it’s my job to put things back in order.”
“Your job?” Rose asked. “What is that, exactly?”
Logan shrugged. “Mechanic.”
“Mechanic?”
Her puzzled expression made Logan smile. “Sort of. I think I mentioned that my father worked for Robert’s father. Charles Benedict had a collection of classic cars and several airplanes, and it was Dad’s job to keep them running smoothly. Now I do the same sort of thing. As the family lawyer, I make sure that the Benedict business investments continue to pay off without creating a conflict of interest with Robert’s political career, and I take care of the legal details of the various charities the Benedicts fund.”
Logan paused, released a deep breath, then stared deep into Rose’s eyes before going on, “Look, you won’t have to stay long. Anna’s bound to call me again, and I know I’ll be able to talk her into returning. I was originally due to return late tonight. Anna has no way of knowing that I caught an early flight back, so she’ll probably call tomorrow. So, I would really appreciate it if you would stay and attend tonight’s dinner-dance fund-raiser, as Elise asked.”
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