"Why?"

"Family matters."

He raised an eyebrow, cast her a drop-dead glance, and said, "I don't have much family."

"You'll have less if you don't lose the att.i.tude."

He straightened and folded his arms over his chest, pinning his cue stick between his T-shirt and forearms. "I'm busy."

She laughed. "This is how you spend your nights?"

"I'm asking again. Just what is it you want?"

Her gaze slid around the room, to the other men who were gawking at her openly, like hungry wolves around a wounded lamb. "We should talk in private."

"This is as private as I get."

"That's not what I heard." A wicked little smile played upon lips that glistened a soft shade of pink.

A chorus of "Whoas" swelled around him.

"Maybe you heard wrong."

"I don't think so."

"Look, Beatrice-"

"Bibi."

"I don't see any reason to-"

"Have it your way. I'll be in the car." She checked her watch and Lefty O'Riley, a pickpocket at the next table, greedily eyed all seventeen jewels. "You've got ten minutes." Leaving a cloud of perfume in her wake, she strolled out of the pool hall and the clicking of cue b.a.l.l.s stopped. Everyone in the building watched her rump sway as she made her way outside.

"h.e.l.l," Daegan growled, glancing at the bills laid flat against the corner of the table, then tossed his stick to the guy he'd been playing and followed her.

"Hey, you can't walk out on a game!" Bill Schubert called.

He didn't reply, just snagged his beat-up leather jacket off a hook near the door and swung outside, where the winter wind ripped through him like a chain saw. His boots crunched on snow that had fallen, half melted, and refrozen. Several men had gathered near a fire that crackled in a trash can, warming fingers that poked through tattered gloves, their bodies wrapped in long coats, their collective breath fogging the air.

A car, a big black Cadillac with smoky windows, was idling in the loading zone. The back door was open. Waiting. Exhaust clouded from the tail pipe and strains of "The Little Drummer Boy" floated from the interior.

I knew he'd come, she said without speaking. she said without speaking.

He jabbed his hands into his pockets and crossed the sidewalk.

The distinct impression that he was going to make the single worst decision of his life tonight and there wasn't much he could do about it nagged at him.

Bibi and whatever she had planned was waiting. For him. About to change his life.

Daegan took a deep breath, decided he didn't have much to lose anyway, and ducked in the b.u.t.tery soft interior of the Cadillac.

Chapter 7.

Bibi wasn't alone. Stuart, her older brother, the golden child of the Sullivan family, sat in the driver's seat of the luxury car, drumming his fingers impatiently on the top of the steering wheel. She sat beside him, couched in soft leather and fur.

Already second-guessing himself, Daegan slid into the backseat.

The heir-apparent turned and looked over his shoulder. "I'm Stu." Close-cropped brown hair and piercing blue eyes.

"Daegan."

"I know. Close the door." As Daegan yanked the door shut, Stuart stepped on the accelerator. Tires squealed, slush sprayed, and Daegan began to feel as if he were in a trap-one of those rooms where the walls ever so slowly begin to move closer together, promising to squeeze the living breath out of anyone in their steady, relentless path.

"I suppose you wondered why we came looking for you," Stu said in a voice that sounded as if he were modulating the debate team. He was a lot older than Daegan, over twenty, and smooth as expensive gla.s.s. He'd been wearing a tie but it had been tossed carelessly over the seat. His wool sports jacket was navy herringbone, his features definably patrician, and he drove with his hands barely on the wheel, as if by the sheer power of his will the Cadillac responded to him.

Through the city streets they sped, past the tenements and warehouses of Daegan's neighborhood. "You are curious, right?" Stuart prompted when Daegan didn't answer his question. Sullivan's blue eyes met his in the rearview mirror. "You'd like to know why we'd bother looking you up."

"It crossed my mind."

Stu glanced over his shoulder, flashing a thousand-watt smile. "We-Bibi and I-thought it was time you met the family."

Daegan felt a tic stirring in the corner of his jaw. "What if I don't want to?"

Stuart slammed on the brakes. Daegan flew against the front seat. The big car skidded on the ice, nearly turning sideways near an old boarded-up warehouse and fish cannery. "Then you can get out," Stuart said in that same near-bored voice.

"Oh, don't!" Bibi interjected. She pushed on the lighter and was fiddling with a tape in the dash. "And stop driving like a maniac, you're going to kill us all." She placed an arm over the back of her seat and twisted to face Daegan. "It's going to be fun."

"Fun?" Daegan repeated, mentally kicking himself.

"Sure. Collin's going to be there and..." Music drifted from hidden speakers. Rolling Stones. Not really an upper-crust band. "Let's spend the night together. Now I need you more than ever..."

"Collin?" Daegan's throat threatened to close. His half brother. The boy Mary Ellen had always compared to Daegan. Collin, of course, had always come up short every time in Mary Ellen O'Rourke's biased opinion. He was thin, blond, and pale like his mother, not strapping. Often sick. In her words, "a snot-nosed wimp."

Bibi found a cigarette in her purse. "Yeah, and Bonnie and Alicia, too."

"Your choice," Stuart said as he glanced at Daegan in the rearview mirror with those placid eyes. But in the blue depths, Daegan saw something else, a bit of evil. He didn't have a glimmer into Stuart's mind, but there was just a hint of a smile on his face, a wicked little ghost of a grin that indicated he antic.i.p.ated a great sport, one in which Daegan would be a primary player.

"Where are we going?"

"As I said, to a party-a very private party." Stuart's eyes, in the mirror, narrowed just a fraction.

"What kind of party?" he asked, more nervous than ever though he'd never admit it.

"One for all the cousins," Stuart said. "Kind of a coming out party. For you."

"Oh, Stu, stop it." Bibi lit her cigarette and took a long drag. "You know, I was wrong. This was a s.h.i.tty idea."

"Whose was it?" Stu asked.

"It was just a joke," she said, smoke sifting from her nose. "I had no idea you'd actually go for it."

"But it's brilliant, darling," he said and touched her lightly on the cheek.

So they'd cooked this up together, whatever it was, and already Bibi was regretting her part. Not good; not good at all. Get out, Daegan, get out now while you still have some pride. Get out, Daegan, get out now while you still have some pride.

"Where is this party?"

"Out of town. At the lake."

"Daddy's summer house," Bibi said, frowning.

"What's it gonna be, O'Rourke?" Stu demanded. "You think you're man enough to face the family?"

In the deep cushions, Daegan bristled. He'd never been one to turn down a dare, even when he knew he was going to regret it. "As long as my old man's not there."

"Frank?" Stu snorted the name in disgust. "Don't worry. This is a closed party. Invitation only. Uncle Frank didn't make the cut."

"But I did."

"Yeah." There was a smile in Stu's voice. "You definitely did." He twisted the wheel, and they were off again, the smooth engine of the Caddie purring through the night. Daegan had ridden in his share of cars, even though his mother didn't own one, but this was the best. The lights of the city swirled past the shaded gla.s.s windows. Music and smoke drifted through the warm interior. He started to relax and listen to the Stones. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.

Daegan changed his mind when the electronic gates of some obscure piece of Sullivan real estate parted and Stuart nosed the Caddie along a snow-crusted lane. Several other cars had pa.s.sed through the wrought-iron fencing and left deep ruts in the otherwise pristine drifts. Fir trees, their boughs laden with a heavy blanket of white, were overburdened compared to their naked counterparts-stark, leafless maple and oak trees that seemed to lift their black skeletal arms to the sky.

Daegan's mouth was dry and he'd kill for one of the cigarettes that Bibi so carelessly smoked, but he didn't say a word, not even when the forest parted and a house the likes of which he'd never seen before came into view. Sprawled upon the banks of a vast lake, three stories of red Sullivan brick rose upward. On either side, single-storied wings swept away from the tall center. White stone edged each corner, and six or seven chimneys, one of which spewed smoke into the clear evening air, stood like sentinels on the roof. Tall windows glowed in the night, the panes shimmering with ice, black shutters open. A behemoth of a house.

Daegan bit his tongue. So this was how the Sullivans lived. It was enough to make him sick when he thought of the hours his mother put in at the textile mill, how her feet and back ached each night, how she rubbed the knots from her fingers and the back of her neck after getting off her shift, how she waited by the phone, smoking silently, hoping he he would call. would call.

Stuart parked near the porch behind a new Jaguar. Smoothing the sides of his hair, he flashed Daegan one of his killer smiles. "Show time."

"Oh, Christ," Bibi groaned as she jabbed out what had to have been her third cigarette. Pursing her lips, she offered Daegan a look of apology as they climbed out of the car, then, as if embarra.s.sed, wouldn't glance his way again. The air was crisp, cold, and clear, the night silent. No noise of city, no smell of exhaust, no ever-present throngs of people bustling around. No, this place, in its mantle of white, was serene and stately.

Stuart reached the door and flung it open, motioning gallantly for Daegan to enter. Impulsively Bibi took Daegan's fingers in her hand and squeezed. "If this gets too hairy, let me know. I'll get you out of here."

"I can handle myself," he said, yanking his hand away and stuffing both fists into his front pockets. If this was going to be a sideshow, so be it. He wasn't going to come out looking like a wimp and leaning on a woman.

The interior of the house reminded Daegan of a seldom-used museum. A sweeping staircase rose from the hallway to the second floor, split and climbed to the third. Oak floors were polished to a mirror finish then decorated with rugs that looked like they came from some place in the Far East. Antiques and mirrors, tables and lamps, living plants and paintings of dead ancestors filled the corners. Music was playing through hidden speakers-some cla.s.sical piece performed by an orchestra. "This way," Stu said, leading them through a short hallway where Daegan heard the first sound of voices.

"...I don't care; this was a dumb idea. Mummy will kill us if she finds out," the nasal voice of a girl complained. "What is this surprise of Stu's anyway? Really, he can be such a bore."

"If it weren't for Stu, how much fun would we ever have?" whined Collin. Though he'd never met him face-to-face, Daegan had heard his voice often enough at a distance. He gritted his teeth.

"I love surprises," another younger, female voice said excitedly.

"Mummy will skin us alive." The first girl-probably snotty Alicia. Daegan felt as if a rope had settled over his neck. With each step, the noose tightened.

"She'll never know." Collin again.

h.e.l.l, this was a crazy idea. What was he doing here? Why had he agreed to come?

"Whatever Stu's cooked up, you can bet it will be good."

Daegan's stomach clenched into a knot of apprehension, and he wondered what had possessed him to leave the familiar and comfortable surroundings of Shorty's Pool Hall. He didn't have to be told that he was about to step into the middle of a three-ring circus and he was the main attraction. He slid a glance in his eldest cousin's direction, but didn't get a clue as to his true motives. Just what the h.e.l.l was Stuart Sullivan's game? As he had before, he tried to look into the older boy's mind, but to no avail; Stuart's thoughts were as closed to him as a sealed vault.

They walked into a room that spanned the back of the house, and for the first time in his life, Daegan met his half-brother and-sisters. Silhouetted against a brilliant, crackling blaze, Frank's other children were cl.u.s.tered around a huge fireplace faced in marble. For a split second, Daegan thought he caught a glimpse of his own personal vision of h.e.l.l.

"Oh, s.h.i.t," Collin said softly. The gla.s.s in his hand nearly fell to the floor.

"What's the meaning of this-?" the taller girl, Alicia, asked. Her blue, frosty gaze landed on Daegan with all the warmth of an arctic storm. Her skin was pale, her mouth set in condemnation. "Stuart, how could you?"

Bonnie, smaller than her sister, bit her lip. "That's-"

"We know who he is," Alicia snapped, fury burning in the sudden hot spots on her cheeks. "You said we were going to have a party!" she said, seething as she glared at Stuart.

"We are. A private party." Stuart was as calm as Alicia was enraged. "I thought it was time we all got to know each other."

"b.a.s.t.a.r.d!"

"Not me," Stuart said easily and Daegan wanted to strangle him.

Bonnie just stared at Daegan as if he were the reincarnation of the devil himself.

"We're all family here," Stuart said.

"Pleeeeease." Bibi reached into her leather handbag for her cigarettes. "Give me a break. Family?" Bibi reached into her leather handbag for her cigarettes. "Give me a break. Family?"

"Sure, we are. Daegan's our cousin and their brother."

"Get this straight, Stuart. He's not my my brother," Alicia said. She tossed her long, blond curls over her shoulder. "He's-" brother," Alicia said. She tossed her long, blond curls over her shoulder. "He's-"

"Here. In Uncle Robert's house. Why?" Collin asked, folding his arms over his chest. Slender, with even features and smooth skin, he was dressed in a wool sweater and slacks, his dark blond hair combed neatly.

Bibi clicked her lighter to the end of a cigarette. Bonnie flopped down on the cushions of a tufted couch and continued to stare at him as if he were an oddity under a microscope-an interesting organism she couldn't hope to understand.

"Because it's time," Stuart said, striding over to the bar and lifting a crystal gla.s.s from a dust-free shelf. He sorted through an array of gleaming bottles. "I don't know about you, but I'm sick to death of hearing about him-well, not to my face, of course-but behind closed doors. I thought we should all meet each other and get it over with. Come on, Collin, you have to admit, you've been curious for a long time and you"-his gaze swept back to Daegan-"I know you wanted to see what we're all like. You used to climb up in the tree by the church on Sunday mornings, just to catch a glimpse of us going into Ma.s.s."

Daegan wanted to deny it, but just shrugged. No reason to lie. Obviously Stuart had watched him.

"You sneaky little b.a.s.t.a.r.d," Alicia spat out. "You were spying on us?" Her voice rose an angry octave.