by LENA DIAZ,
“I don’t know. Look around. I’m sure he’s here somewhere. Everyone else seems to be.” She laughed and headed into the kitchen.
Buddy turned from a conversation with someone sitting on a bar stool. “You lookin’ for Danny?”
“You know where he is?”
“Didn’t you notice? He stayed with the boat. Said he had to refuel it and get it ready for the morning tour.”
The swinging doors at the front banged against the wall as a man ran inside, gasping for breath. “Fire!” he choked. “The B and B’s on fire!”
The crack of a gunshot boomed like thunder from outside.
Silver! Colton almost knocked the man over as he ran through the doors and leaped off the boardwalk. He pumped his arms and legs, sprinting as fast as he could toward the inn and praying all the way.
Let her be okay. Please, please, God, let her be okay.
Chapter Sixteen
Colton slid to a halt, shielding his face from the heat of the flames. The entire bottom floor was already engulfed. And the heat was so intense he couldn’t get closer than about twenty feet from the structure.
“Silver! Where are you? Silver!” He ran around the perimeter, looking up at the second floor, which was belching smoke. The windows had already exploded from the heat.
He was vaguely aware that men were running around him and that Buddy was barking orders about some kind of pump system and hoses, something about running them to the marsh for a water supply.
“Silver!” Colton yelled again, desperately looking for a way inside. He ran to the back, dodging men who were running hoses to the rear of the property. He cupped his hands around his mouth. “Silver!”
“Here! Colton! I’m here!”
Silver. He frantically spun around, trying to figure out where her voice was coming from.
“Up here!”
He shaded his eyes from the glow of the fire and looked up. Silver leaned out the attic window, and even from that distance he could see she was covered in blood.
“Hold on!” He ran along the back, desperately looking for any way to climb up to her. He grabbed Buddy as he and Charlie ran by with what looked to be a fire hose, although no water was coming out of it. “Buddy, a ladder. Do you have a ladder?”
“Why?”
He pointed at Silver.
“Dear God. No, nothing I have would reach that high. The whole bottom floor is engulfed. We couldn’t use a ladder even if we had one tall enough.”
A hair-raising roar had them whirling around.
Charlie pointed to the enormous oak tree in the middle of the yard. “Is that a panther up there?”
The same black panther that Colton had seen twice before sat on a thick limb, halfway up the tree. But it wasn’t the panther that caught Colton’s attention. It was the thick vines hanging down beside the large cat that had hope bursting inside his chest. He took off and leaped up for the bottom branch, hauling himself up into the tree.
“What are you doing?” Buddy called up. “That tree’s too far from the house to do you any good.”
Colton ignored him and scrambled up the tree, a good climbing tree as Silver had said, with thick, sturdy branches. The panther hissed at him when he got near it, but he paid it no mind, climbing higher and higher, until he was a good ten feet higher than the attic window. Below him, he saw Charlie climbing up, as well.
A burst of heat flared out from the house as the greedy flames began to consume the second floor. Black smoke started billowing out the attic window. Silver clung to the sill, leaning out with a towel over her face to filter out the smoke.
“I’ll be right there!” he yelled. The vines that had been hanging below by the panther were too short to reach the house. He selected another vine and pulled his knife out of his boot, using it to hack the lower part of the vine free.
“No, that one’s too thick. You won’t have a good handhold.” Charlie had just reached a branch below his. “This one. Use this one.”
Colton immediately cut the vine loose that Charlie had pointed to and yanked on it. It seemed strong and well anchored. He looped his hand through one of the knots formed by the vine’s intricate stem.
“Over there.” Charlie pointed. “You need a good running start. Climb to that branch there, then run and jump.”
Colton leaped to the other branch. It was thinner than the others and bowed beneath him. He cartwheeled his arms, to regain his balance.
“Colton! Be careful!” Silver yelled, her voice hoarse and raspy.
“Get ready!” He moved as far out on the branch as he dared, got a good hold on the vine, then took off running toward the other side of the tree.
“Now!” Charlie yelled. “Jump!”
He dove off the branch. The vine jerked and held and swung him toward the attic at a dizzying speed. He lifted his feet to clear the window and suddenly he was inside, falling onto the floor. But before he could stop it, the vine slipped from his grasp and jerked back toward the opening.
“Silver, the vine!” He lunged toward the window as she made a grab for the vine.
She lost her balance and started to fall. “Colton!”
He grabbed her legs just before she could plummet down below and hauled her back in.
“I’ve got it. I’ve got it!” She held up the vine and gifted him with the most amazing smile he’d ever seen.
“You’re incredible,” he said, giving her a quick kiss. He wanted to check her injuries, stanch the bleeding, but there was no time. The floor beneath them was bowing from the heat on the second floor and could collapse any second.
“We have to jump.”
Her face turned pale and she coughed. “I know.”
He picked her up in his arms. “Wrap your legs around my waist and your arms around my neck. And hold on. Don’t let go.”
She tucked her face against his neck. “I won’t let go.”
He looped his hands through the vine and climbed onto the sill.
An explosion sounded behind them and searing heat blasted out at them.
“Now!” He leaped out of the window.
The vine jerked, and then they were swinging toward the tree. Charlie reached out for them, grabbing the vine as they came close and helping Colton haul them both onto the branch.
“Oh, my God,” Silver whispered. “Oh, my God. I can’t believe we just did that.”
Another explosion sounded behind them and they looked back. Flames shot through the attic window where they’d just been standing.
“Ever heard the expression in the nick of time?” Silver teased.
Colton laughed and hugged her close.
She coughed and he pulled back to look at her.
“The blood—”
“Is mostly Danny’s, but some of it’s mine. I’ll explain later. Can we get out of this tree, please?”
But some of it’s mine. Those words sent a chill deep inside Colton. He clasped her close. “Charlie, we need another vine.”
“Already planned on that.” He held out a vine that hung all the way to the ground.
Colton grabbed it and wrapped his legs around the bottom to use as a brake. With Silver holding on, he shimmied them down to the ground. Charlie did the same and landed right beside them on another vine.
Colton scooped Silver up in his arms. “Charlie, we need a ride to the hospital.”
“You got it, boss.”
Charlie took off toward the front and Colton carried his precious cargo in his arms as he made his way through the gauntlet of makeshift firefighters pumping swamp water onto the B and B.
Silver coughed again, black soot staining her skin beneath her nose, and closed her eyes.
“Hold on, sweetheart,” Colton said. “Hold on.”
Chapter Seventeen
Silver hated hospitals, and this one in Naples was no different. Actually, it was worse. Because in addition to being poked, prodded and fussed over for the better part of two days, she’d been interviewed over and over and ove
r again. Not just by the police, but also by DEA agents and the FBI, all hoping that they’d be able to close several open investigations that all centered on Danny Thompson. They wanted to know everything that he’d done. And how he’d died.
“I’ve told you this several times already,” she said to the investigator sitting on the left side of her hospital bed.
A warm hand gently feathered down the right side of her face. Colton. He leaned over the bed and kissed her. “I promise this is the last question you have to answer today. Just tell Special Agent Williams what you already told me about Thompson.”
She let out an impatient breath and relayed how she’d started upstairs for a shower when she smelled some kind of fuel, which turned out to be the boat fuel that Thompson had spread around the foundation of the inn. He’d started the fire, and she ran for the front door to get out. But he’d stopped her and they’d fought. He’d blocked her way out but hadn’t anticipated how quickly the fire would consume everything. He ended up trapped just like her.
“We ran from the fire, up the stairs. I knew I had a gun in my room in the attic, so when I fought my way free of him, I ran up there. He followed me and I shot him.”
“In self-defense?” Williams asked.
“Of course it was.” Silver frowned at the other woman. “Are we done here?”
“Just a few more questions.”
Silver groaned and thumped her head back on the pillow.
“Tomorrow,” Colton said, ushering the agent out of the room. “Come back tomorrow to finish your interview.”
Williams sputtered and protested, but Colton was determined, and soon it was just the two of them left in the room. Which Silver belatedly realized wasn’t necessarily a good thing. Because from the way he’d been doting on her, since finishing all his interviews, she knew he wasn’t going to like anything she had to say.
He sat in the seat Williams had vacated and took her hand. “You’re breathing better.”
“Yep. All the smoke is gone.”
He gently smoothed her bangs back. “Your stitches look good. I bet you won’t even have a scar from where that jerk hit you. If Thompson were still alive, I’d pay him back for that.”
“Well, he’s not. So that’s one less thing you have to do for me.” She tugged her hand free from his.
He frowned. “What’s wrong? And don’t say ‘nothing.’ I know you. Something’s definitely bothering you.”
She let out a long breath. “You don’t know me, Colton. That’s what’s bothering me. You should be getting on with your life instead of camping out in my hospital room.”
The smile faded from his face and he searched her eyes. “What’s this about?”
“I’m just...we’ve only known each other for a few days. And all of it was under extraordinary circumstances. Neither of us really knows each other.”
“Well, of course we do. Extraordinary circumstances means we experienced a lot in a short amount of time. I care about you, Silver. Very much. And I...why are you shaking your head? You think I don’t care?”
She twisted her fingers in the blanket covering her, hating what she had to do. Nothing had ever seemed this hard, because she cared far too much for him, so much that her heart was breaking. But she knew this was the right thing.
She had to let him go.
“Silver—”
“I think you should leave.”
He froze. “What?”
“You heard me. Colton, I owe you my life. I owe the future of my hometown to you. You saved us, the Jones family, those kids, and we all owe you a debt of gratitude. But you and I, well, there’s no future for us. We need to call it like it is.”
“Call it like it is? What’s wrong? Are you upset that I haven’t said that I love you? I thought it was obvious, but I’ll say it. I—”
“No. Don’t say it.”
He frowned. “What’s really going on here?”
She blinked back the moisture in her eyes. “Don’t you see? You think you...care about me...because of everything that has happened. But two people can’t fall in love after only a few days. I don’t know anything about you. And you know little about me. I’ve never met your family, know nothing about how you grew up, who your friends are, what you do for fun. None of it’s real.”
He waved his hand in the air. “All those things—our pasts, our families, how we grew up—they made us who we are today, who we are right now. And we do know each other. I know that you’re creative, and smart, and care deeply about people, especially young people. I suspect you love babies and I bet you want a houseful someday.”
“You suspect, but you don’t know that.”
“If you’re worried that we’re going too fast—”
“I am.”
His frown smoothed out with relief. “If that’s all you’re worried about, no problem. When you get out of here we’ll date. I’ll take you to movies and restaurants, learn your favorite foods. And we can go visit our families.”
“Colton. You work undercover, for months at a time. And you love it. I don’t want to be the cause of you giving that up. You aren’t ready to settle down, or even start a family.”
“How would you know that?”
“Because when your boss, Drew, interviewed me, we talked about you, too. And he told me what a fine detective you are, and how much you love your job. That you planned to work undercover for at least several more years.”
His eyebrows dipped down. “He had no business discussing my career decisions or my future plans with you. He doesn’t know what I want.”
“What do you want? To sit at a desk? You’d miss all the excitement of going undercover, of living a secret life, of trying to trick the bad guys and make that big score when you bring down an operation. I know. I’ve been there. I know the rush and how exciting it can be. But I’m done with all that. I’m ready to settle down, which is why I started the B and B.” She grimaced. “Which I’ll now have to rebuild. But my point is, you’re not at that place. You aren’t ready to settle down.”
“You said we don’t know each other. But you claim to know what I want, or don’t want?”
She sighed. “You’re right. I don’t know. But I do know this. You never talked to your boss about getting out of undercover work until after you met me. I’ve been through this before. I’ve been that girl with a guy who changed his life, who gave up his dreams, so they could be together after a whirlwind romance. I married him, Colton.”
He blanched. “You’re married?”
“What? Oh, no, no, no. Of course not. Not anymore. We got married right out of high school. And within a few months, he was already resenting me, hating me, for everything he gave up to be with me. He’d lost a football scholarship in another state because he knew I didn’t want to live there. And then he held that against me. It was horrible. That psychological abuse I mentioned? That’s what I was talking about. We were divorced after six months. And I don’t ever want to do that again. I do care about you, very much. But we have different dreams. And I don’t want you giving yours up for me, and then hating me for it.”
“I could never hate you,” he said softly.
“You don’t know that.”
An awkward silence filled the room.
He stared across the bed, out the window. “You’ve given this a lot of thought, haven’t you?”
“I have. Yes.” And it was killing her inside to let him go. But she could never live with herself knowing she’d destroyed his dreams. Even if it destroyed hers by telling him goodbye.
He finally rose and leaned down and kissed her on the top of the head. His incredible blue eyes were unreadable as he looked down at her. His mouth worked, as if he was trying to come up with the perfect words to change her mind. But then he gave her a stiff nod and turned away.
And walked right out of her life.
* * *
“A TAD TO the left, Charlie,” Silver called out as Charlie and Ned stood on ladders beside the front steps, h
olding either end of the blue, bed-shaped sign that announced, Under the Covers Bed & Breakfast, proprietor Silver Westbrook.
“Looks perfect where it is, if you ask me.”
She smiled at Tippy standing beside her. “You think so?”
“I do.”
“That’s it,” she called out. “Perfect.”
Charlie gave her a thumbs-up, and soon the sound of hammers once again echoed through Mystic Glades. It had taken four long months to rebuild, but finally the inn was ready again.
“They’re here.” Tippy pointed up the road.
Silver turned to see a string of cars heading down Main Street. She checked her watch. “They’re early. The Larson family must be in an awful hurry to start their reunion.”
“I think it’s so exciting that one family booked the whole inn for two weeks. This is going to be fun.”
Silver gave her a hug. “And since you have your degree now, you’re totally prepared if I ditch you again and you’re stuck taking care of everyone, right?” At the look of panic on Tippy’s face, Silver laughed. “Don’t worry. J.J. will be here soon. I promised I’d get you some real help this time, and I have. And I don’t plan on going anywhere.”
A flash of pain shot through her as a memory of Colton floated through her mind, but she held on to her smile to face her arriving guests. “Tippy, hurry inside. You’ll need to register everyone.”
“Yes, ma’am.” She grinned and hurried down the walkway.
“Miss Westbrook?” A beautiful young woman with striking blue eyes stopped in front of her and held out her hands.
“Please, call me Silver. You must be Celia?”
A smile lit the woman’s eyes, painfully reminding Silver of another pair of blue eyes.
“That’s right, Celia Larson.” She suddenly wrapped Silver in a tight hug. “I’m so glad to meet you.”
Silver stiffened, then laughed and hugged the woman back. “Nice to meet you, too. Please go on inside. Tippy will help you find your room.”
Celia pulled back, squeezed her hand, then hurried off with the others, who were lugging their suitcases into the inn. When everyone was inside, and Charlie and Ned had folded up their ladders and headed up the street to return them to Buddy’s store, Silver remained in front of the inn. She wanted a few more minutes to compose herself before facing the lovely, happy family inside.
