Diamond and Ice: Pippa Series, #2

By Lacey Dancer

PRICE OF FAME AND PERFECTION. Jason Starke 'The Iceman' had earned his nickname both on and off the ice. The Olympic Gold Medalist was a brilliant technician on the ice, a dazzling master of the silver blades. 'Perfection on ice' was his life. In private, Jason felt nothing. He viewed the world as a giant game board, people as players and himself as the master who wrote the rules.He wanted more. His sport had given him wealth and power but stolen his ability to feel. Now he wanted to create a legacy that would live beyond him, a sports complex that would bring together the best support staff of the ice skating world for the benefit of each generation to come. Because he knew what his career had cost him he wanted more for those coming after him. He wanted the fire and heart that he no longer had.

 

Diana Diamond was a woman shrouded in mystery who create ice skating programs that fired the imagination and the senses. She was the obsession he had to have for his dream to be complete. Diana wanted nothing to do with amateur skating again. She had almost lost her life pursuing her own Olympic dreams. Now her world was choreography, creating programs for professional ice skaters who were the best of the best. Choreography was her passion and perfection her goal.Fire and Ice. When the two meet, the game begins and the rules change.

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• Language: English
• Publisher: Sydney Clary
• Release date: Dec 1, 2017
• ISBN: 9798224632480

Lacey Dancer

International, Award-Winning Romance and Suspense author, Sydney Clary a.k.a. Lacey Dancer, has written and published over 36 books over her lifetime. She is working on adding 20 or 30 more to the count as well as bringing her backlist into the 21st century. Currently, she is concentrating on writing stories in two new series. The first is called the Live Oak Series which is a romance/suspense story set in North Florida. The second is The Truth Series, a thriller/suspense series set in Montana and other places around the world. Finally, she is enhancing and republishing the very popular Pippa Romance series.

Book preview

LETTER FROM LACEY

Diamond and Ice, originally titled Diamond on Ice, is the second book in the Pippa series. Again, this is an enhanced reprint. When I first had the idea to reis sue the Pippa series, I wasn’t sure if it was the right time. Choices, the first in the group, has shown me that Pippa and her friends and family appealed to a new audience as well as those who have been with me for years.

I have been surprised at the popularity of the enhanced format. The expanded page length has allowed me the room to include more conversation, more back story and a lot more fun for me as a writer. The expansion into the audio market has been very important in this new way of bringing my stories to life. Having chosen to continue to publish my own material was another risk that I have found is turning into a wonderful adventure thanks to all of you, old friends and new.

This adventure begins with man who has locked himself emotionally away from the world and a woman who feels every emotion vividly. These two were really a challenge to write and condense in the original shorter book. It is a delight to recreate the book again. I got to know Nicky better. Pippa was in rare form. She even threw in a surprise that was not in the first version. And the ending was....

Well, I will leave that for you to discover. As always thanks to all of you for sharing my stories with me. A writer without readers is also a writer without a voice. You have given me mine. I enjoy hearing from all of you and I do answer all my contacts myself so please bear with me if I take a day or two to reply. My contact information is at the end of this book.

Lacey Dancer

CHAPTER ONE

A close up of a logo Description automatically generated

And now, ladies and gentlemen, for the highlight of our ice show extravaganza. Three-time Olympic Gold Medalist, five-time World Figure Skating Champion, master of the silver blades, our own, the one and the only, Jason ‘Iceman’ Starke.

The light in the arena dimmed, plunging the standing- room-only crowd into a black velvet silence. Jason skated onto the center of the rink, mentally grimacing at the effusive introduction. In his opinion, voiced only in his mind, never aloud, the MC should have added ‘the brilliant technician without the soul to appreciate the gift of his own skill’.

For one moment his lips tightened, flattening to hold back the thought that had been haunting him more frequently the last few years. With his program to do he couldn’t afford to have his concentration upset. Taking his opening position, he wondered if, for once, he would capture the elusive emotions he chased every time he put on his skates.

Could he match his brilliance with the emotional depth he knew was missing? Or would he fail tonight as he always had done? He felt the adrenaline surge into his body, his need to attain the impossible the dominant force in his mind.

Suddenly, the music exploded in the silence. The blue lights shattered the darkness, catching his body clad in silver pants and a wide leather belt over his bare chest and across one shoulder as he lifted into his first triple jump. His arms extended in a move that he had created, Jason stretched for the apex of the leap, fiercely determined no flaw would mar the aerial. He attained the perfect positioning, but the long sought for feeling wasn’t there. This would not be the night, any more than any other that had gone before. Despair blackened his thoughts even as his blades cut smoothly into the ice for a perfect landing.

The sport that had become his life so many years ago was nothing but an empty shell of the effort, care, and dedication he had given to it. Betrayal of his gift and his skill was an acid burn in his thoughts. His eyes bleak, his mind coolly calculating his next move, the first of five quads, he kept on skating, kept playing to the audience that had come to see the champion perform. They had paid top dollar for seats at the show. He had paid the cost with strained muscles, pain, emptiness, and a weariness that no amount of rest assuaged; and a barren personal life that he could no longer tolerate.

He raced down the ice, fleeing the images of the past, feeling the first bite of fear nipping at his heels. Jason heard the roar of the crowd as only background noise. The ice was his lover and his enemy as he attacked each move throwing his body into the air time after time, striving for perfection with every stroke of his blades across the ice. He felt his muscles strain from the demands he was placing on his body. It didn’t matter. The risk didn’t matter. The accolades didn’t matter. Nothing was more important than the next move, the next jump.

What if this was all there was to life? For one glorious moment, he felt something stir beneath the control he had perfected all those years ago when criticism had been his constant companion as he had perfected his skill and fed his need to skate as no other had before him. Anger, soul-freeing anger flashed across his frozen emotions. He shot off the ice, slamming through the air, riding the crest of the first sting of emotion. Even before he hit the top of the four spin leap, the feeling died.

The audience sat spellbound at the brilliance he unleashed. Their collective breath caught, held as he leapt into another quad. His skates flashed silver sparks in the spotlights. Sweat poured off his body. The light gleamed on his black hair and damp skin, the muscles living ripples of warm, molten gold.

Women poised on the edges of their seats, mesmerized by his male power and grace. Men felt inadequate before his skill. The critics would write later that nothing could top his performance. As the music reached its climax, he lifted one final time into the fifth quad of the night. The audience rose as one, screaming his name.

His breathing grew labored, his power seeping away. Superb training and his own ability to physically reach beyond himself drove him toward the finale. He felt the audience reach out like a giant, greedy monster for the last of his essence. He responded, flying into the air, going higher, spinning faster than was safe. He landed, holding his edge, hearing their vicarious ecstasy as so much static. The lights were cut.

The end of his performance had come and still the sound went on, waves of noise, cries for an encore. More tired than he had ever been, he listened to the announcer give the crowd more of his life. This time he was bathed in red light, the color of blood. His encore was pure flash and fire without heart. The audience seeing only the glitz not the absence of substance roared its approval.

Then it was done, the rink dark, the sound so huge that is almost sucked up all the air to breath. His chest heaving from his exertion, he stood in the darkness hearing his name called from all sides. When the lights came up he acknowledged the applause with a bow in each of the four directions.

He left the ice, knowing that he would not return until he could find his soul again. He knew he was leaving technical brilliance behind him. He had sacrificed his emotions, his needs, friends, and family to achieve his dream. For a while, it had been enough. The gold medals, the titles, the accolades of the public and the critics had fed him in those first few years. Slowly, he had begun to realize what he had done to himself, what he had lost.

Yes, he had made millions through his sport and the endorsements that followed. But he had no home. He lived in a series of hotel rooms. His recreation was a fine restaurant and a willing woman to share the night. He wanted more for his own future. He needed a purpose, something more than just the life he had carved as a professional skater.

More than anything else he wanted to feel, dammit!

He wanted his life to mean something more than winning medals, titles and rave reviews.

He had called his agent to meet him after the show. He had seen him on the sidelines just before he had stepped onto the ice. Even as he had attacked the last few moves of the program, he had almost felt Frank mentally listing the sponsors who would be screaming for a chance to pay the ‘Iceman’ high fees for acting as spokesperson for their products.

Jason felt the tendrils of human greed wrapping around him. The audience. Frank, his agent. Lisa, his female counterpart in the ice show and lover of three years in private. Each took from him. Each gave back a reflection of himself, emotionless, empty, and barren. He finally knew that he had lived too long with the world taking bits of him with every performance while he searched for that elusive dream called technical and emotional skating perfection.

Ignoring the noise and the congratulations of his fellow skaters, Jason skated through the curtain, stopping only to put on protectors over his blades before returning to his dressing room. The silence was as deep and without substance as the praise had been. He stood in the center of the room feeling exhausted beyond any fatigue he had ever known. His lips twisted grimly, his shoulders hunching in a wasted attempt to ward off the utter lack of interest in moving. There was a knock on the door. Only two people, Lisa or Frank, would dare to bother him after a show. He straightened, his face smooth as always, his eyes, unrevealing. Only a fool let his blood show in a sea filled with hungry sharks.

Come in, he called as he sat down to take off his skates.

Frank surged through the door. I couldn’t believe my eyes. When you told me you wanted to see me, I couldn’t think why. I never expected this kind of surprise. Do you have any idea what your stock in this country will be like tomorrow after that show? I spotted at least four major news people in the audience. I’ll be able to sell you everywhere. The sky’s the limit. Frank dropped into a chair, his ever-ready tablet in hand as he tossed out and discarded ideas with the speed of bullets from a gun.

Jason stripped the stage makeup from his face, barely listening. He had called Frank to arrange a short leave from the show. Thinking his problems of late were mere weariness and dissatisfaction, he had intended to have few weeks’ vacation. Now, he accepted the problem was deeper than that. He rose, took off his pants and tossed them over another chair before heading for the shower. Frank followed, still planning.

A few minutes later Jason returned to the main room of the star suite to put on his street clothes. As he pulled on his slacks, his wallet slipped out of his pocket. Another knock sounded. This time it was Lisa, smiling, pleased with herself and the performance she had just finished.

You better watch it, Iceman, the audience loved my act. She swayed toward him, taking the kiss that was usually her due.

I always said you were dynamite on the ice, he murmured, kissing her lightly without feeling the slightest need to take more. Instead, he studied his reactions as though outside himself. He could see nothing in himself or Lisa that indicated any caring on either side. She, in her way, was just as self-motivated as he. Frank was a top man at his job, but he had the sensitivity of a rock. Even now, the agent neither knew nor cared that Lisa was there. Nor did Lisa acknowledge the agent.

Disturbed, hating the introspection that was dogging him of late, Jason released Lisa. He turned away to pick up his dropped wallet. As he did, the leather opened to the picture section and the worn newspaper cutout of a young female skater caught in a beautiful leap. Jason studied the photo, remembering the moment and the girl.

Diana Diamond. A young phenomenon in her teens. She had been slated to win the gold four years after his medal but, inexplicably, she had quit with no warning the year before the games. He touched the picture, thinking of the face, the wealth of joy and expression that had filled her every gesture the last time he had seen her skate. Her skill had been astoundingly fine honed at her age, but her ability to interpret the music had been her true gift in his eyes. She had touched him and her audience. He had felt her in every fiber of his being that day. After that, nothing had been the same in his own skating. Because in looking at Diana, he had known his own lack.

What have you got there? Lisa asked, vaguely curious.

Jason closed the wallet and stuffed it in his slacks. Even to himself, he couldn’t explain why he still carried Diana’s picture. Nothing.

Lisa didn’t press him further, instead asking, Are we still going out tonight?

Jason glanced at her, reading a faint discomfort in her stance. Is there any reason we shouldn’t?

Well, you’ve made it clear these past weeks.... She stopped, smiling at her own hesitancy. You know what I mean. You have put us on hold. At first I thought you might be just tired. It has been a long run and you do two performances in every show. That’s a lot the way you skate. But I don’t think that is really it. I think we are coming to the end of our run together.

She shrugged, going to the mirror to study her reflection. The costumer had done a great job with her new outfit. Neither of us ever meant anything deep, nor are we the type to get upset over the end we both knew would come. I’ve been asked to dinner by the new skater. I want to go.

She turned, looking him straight in the eyes. I won’t, unless we are done.

Jason searched for something in himself: regret, anger, pique, anything to tell him that the relationship he had shared with this woman for three years had touched him. He found nothing. The fear that had sprung up on the ice doubled, digging claws into his gut, demanding an answer before it was too late. The strange thing was he had known their time together was over.

I should have told you weeks ago.

Perhaps. I think I needed to see the end myself. She touched his arm, surprising them both with the unnecessary display. You could have sent me packing. Thanks for letting it be this way.

Frank looked up from his tablet. Hey, are you two done? I need to talk to Jason and then I’ll be out of your hair.

Lisa dropped her hand. No. You stay. I go.

Jason watched her walk out, making his first ever snap decision. Frank, I want you to get me out of this contract with the show. Tonight is my last professional performance as a hired seal.

What! Are you crazy? Frank dropped his precious tablet on the floor without even noticing. He rose, his mouth half opened in shock, his eyes blind with it.

Jason sighed deeply. Not crazy, tired. I haven’t had a real vacation in years if ever. I have more money than I know what to do with. Or have time to spend. I am tired of being a trained performer. He turned from the man he had had a professional relationship with for fifteen years to stare at his reflection in the mirror. He saw the emptiness in his own eyes. He turned back to Frank.

I want more out of life than empty performances, empty relationships, and big money payoffs.

Frank stared at him as though he had sprouted an extra head. What do you mean empty? You could have anything you want. I have told you repeatedly that you needed a home base someplace besides a hotel room. And someone important in your life. I have known you since you were a teenager. I’ve admired your focus and your dedication. I don’t know any skater with a better work ethic. You are truly a legend in your own time.

I don’t want to be a legend in my own time, Jason exploded. For once emotion drove his response.

Whether you want to be a legend or not you are.

I want a real life. I want to do something important with my time besides win medals.

He spread his hands. Then let them drop. Frustration and exhaustion were a potent mix. He didn’t have the words to explain the chaos of feelings tearing at him. He didn’t even have names for what he was feeling. He just knew he had to make a change. He had to find himself when he hadn’t even realized he was lost.

Frank studied him, his expression worried. Then take a vacation, a long vacation. I can do some finagling and get you a month.

I don’t want a month. I want my life.

Jason headed for the door with Frank following still arguing. Jason turned to him and cut him off with a look. I mean it, Frank. I’m leaving tonight.

Where are you going?

I won’t know until I get there.

Alex Kane leaned back in his chair studying the man across the desk from him. In the year he had known his wife’s brother he had not seen him more than three times, all occasions had had something to do with a family gathering, first his wedding then two of Pippa’s birthday celebrations. At no time would he have considered ever finding Jason in his office with the kind of request he had just heard.

Have you thought this through? Have you really considered what you are asking? How long it is going to take you to do what you want to do? The kind of commitment you will be making?

He knew Jason had a quick mind and an amazing grasp of business for an artist but still....

Jason laughed shortly as he met his brother-in-law’s puzzled look. Lorelei had chosen well when she had married Alex Kane. He was an honest man, a hard one when toughness and strength were needed and a man who could see deeper and clearer than most. He had made his money the hard way and yet, no one, competitor or enemy, had ever accused him of being underhanded.

Because he trusted Alex as he trusted few people, he gave him the truth, or, at least, what he had figured out so far. Yes. But that’s not going to stop me. I wouldn’t be where I am today if I didn’t understand commitment and focus. If you can’t or won’t help me I’ll find someone who will.

I haven’t said I wouldn’t help you. I just don’t know if you realize what you’re asking. I’m a businessman and even though we are related by marriage I don’t waste time playing games, even with you. Why would you put yourself through this? You have enough money to hire people to handle your plans.

Jason leaned forward slightly. "I’m not playing a game. I’m deadly serious. I do have the money to hire people for what I have in mind. But I don’t have the knowledge. I don’t expect to become an expert but equally I need to understand what my