He saw Samantha take Caroline’s hand as if to protect her, to protect Presley.
“I went by your condo,” Alex said.
Caroline’s eyes widened. “Why?”
“Why do you think? You were unconscious. I wanted to find your fiancé and get him to the hospital.”
Caroline said nothing, but seemed to stiffen as if bracing herself for the storm.
“You know Preston is really Presley Wells, don’t you?” Samantha asked before Alex could.
Surprise, then resignation registered on his sister’s face before being quickly replaced by a steely determination he knew only too well.
“We went to Tennessee,” Alex said. “We know everything.”
Not quite, but Samantha didn’t correct him.
Caroline had closed her eyes. He could see that she was squeezing Samantha’s hand. “Have you told Daddy?”
“I wouldn’t do that.”
Her eyes came open again.
“Tell me what’s going on,” Alex demanded.
“If you know everything then what is there to tell?”
“Where is your fiancé?”
His sister shook her head, tears brimming in her eyes.
All the anger seemed to rush out of him. He slumped on the edge of her bed. Then, as if on impulse, he leaned into Caroline and because of her broken arm and leg, gave her an awkward hug.
Caroline let go of Samantha’s hand to wrap her arms around his neck. “Trust me,” she whispered. “Everything is going to be fine.” They stayed like that for a long moment.
He heard Samantha step out of the room to give them some privacy. A moment later he heard the ring of her cell phone.
“Let me help you,” Alex said to his sister as he pulled back from the hug.
“You already have. I’m glad you know about Presley. I tried to tell you the other day at Weddings Your Way, but I was afraid of your reaction.”
“It isn’t my reaction you have to worry about,” he said.
“In time, Daddy will come around, you’ll see.” Caroline pressed his hand to her stomach. “You’re going to love Presley.” She smiled. “He reminds me of you.”
WALKING DOWN THE HALL away from the two guards outside Caroline’s room, Samantha took the call, glad to see it was Clare getting back to her.
“Are you sitting down?” Clare said.
“No, should I be?”
“Maybe. I did some checking on the names you gave me. I started with Alex Graham, since I knew you were in Tennessee with him and Rachel seemed to be worried about you.”
Samantha held her breath.
“Financially solvent and then some. It doesn’t look like he spends even the money he makes.”
“What are you saying?”
“He’s loaded and apparently has made some good investments. He could live much better than he does. From what I could find out, he lives in a small beach house, old neighborhood, though not a bad one.”
Samantha felt a wave of relief. No red flags. Nothing to cause her concern. Maybe Alex Graham was just what he appeared to be. She sure hoped so because she was crazy about him. And it scared her half to death.
“Of course Alex doesn’t have anything compared to his father,” Clare continued. “Whew! Is C. B. Graham rich.”
“Any recent big investments?”
“As a matter of fact…”
Just as Samantha had been led to believe, C. B. Graham had invested quite heavily with his future son-in-law, Pres. It wasn’t enough to make a dent in his overall wealth, but it was substantial enough that it wouldn’t go unnoticed if C.B. lost it.
“And Brian Graham?” Samantha asked, pretty sure he had invested, as well.
“No record of him investing any money with Wells,” Clare said, surprising her. Samantha had been so sure. Brian had seemed awfully eager to find Pres. But maybe it had just been concern for his father.
“Probably didn’t invest because he’s in trouble financially,” Clare said.
“What?” She remembered the cocky way Brian had been at the Holcom-Anders wedding. “But I thought he ran the Graham empire?”
“Not all of it. That kind of wealth is never all in one pot—or all under one control,” Clare said. “But Brian Graham had been given a substantial amount of it to control it appears.”
“And he’s lost it?”
“No, but he’s made some bad investments and unless he gets a windfall, he will have lost it all,” Clare said.
Brian was in trouble financially? Did C.B. know? And what did that have to do with Presley? Everything, she thought. If Brian were desperate, would he invest in one of Presley’s projects secretly as a last-ditch effort to save himself? It might explain why Brian was so anxious to find Presley.
She thanked Clare and closing her phone started back down the hall toward Caroline’s room. A nurse Samantha had seen before came out of Craig Johnson’s room just down the hall.
Samantha slowed to talk to her, the nurse smiling as she recognized her. “I saw you coming out of Craig Johnson’s room. How is he doing?” In truth, she was surprised he was still in the hospital. Shouldn’t he have been released by now?
The nurse’s smile instantly faded. “I’m sorry, you must not have heard. He’s in a coma.”
“A coma?” But Samantha had been convinced there wasn’t anything wrong with him. “I don’t understand.”
The nurse shook her head. “It happened about an hour ago. We found him on the floor. He’d obviously hit his head when he fell. No one knows what happened. Possibly some sort of seizure from his other head injury during his attack.”
Samantha had a pretty good idea she knew what had happened to Johnson. Whoever had tried to get to him before had been more successful this time.
“I saw that you were visiting Ms. Graham,” the nurse said. “A lovely woman. I’m so happy for her and her fiancé. He obviously loves her so much.”
Samantha came alert at the nurse’s last remark. “You’ve seen him?”
The nurse realized her mistake at once but Samantha wasn’t about to let the woman off the hook.
“It’s all right. You can tell me,” Samantha said. “I’ll keep your confidence. He’s been here?” She thought of Craig Johnson down the hall now in a coma. Was it possible Presley…
The nurse glanced around then leaned in conspiratorially. “He’s been by every night.”
The woman had to be mistaken. Samantha stared at her, trying to hide her surprise. “Ms. Graham’s fiancé has been coming to see her every night?”
“Every night since the accident. The nights she was unconscious, I found him asleep in a chair next to her bed when I checked on her before the shift change.”
“You’re sure it was her fiancé?”
The nurse nodded and smiled. “Good-looking man with dark hair, pale blue eyes and a great smile.”
That would be Presley. “And that’s the only time he comes by to visit, at night?” Samantha asked keeping her voice down.
“Every night since she was admitted,” the nurse said. “Sneaks in after visiting hours.” She shrugged as if it was no big deal he was breaking the rules. “Leaves before dawn. I guess he has a job to get to.
He obviously is a workingman, you know, by the way he dresses.”
Presley was working something, that was for sure. “What about the guard at her door?” Samantha asked.
The nurse looked sheepish. “We distract him.”
Samantha groaned inwardly. What if the man the nurse had described had been a killer? Quite simply, Caroline Graham would be dead.
“I take it Ms. Graham is in on this?” Samantha asked, knowing that had to be the case.
The nurse grinned. “It is kind of romantic. Just seeing the two of them together. They are so much in love.”
And in cahoots. But over what? Caroline had led them to believe that Pres was out of the country and still trying to get back to her.
The question was, why had she lied? None of this made any sense.
Unless the nurse was mistaken and the man who was visiting Caroline each night wasn’t Presley. Had Caroline found not just one but two men who were that good-looking and obviously charming, as well?
But the nurse had mentioned Presley’s pale blue eyes and they were incredible. A cool-water blue accented by dark lashes. And when Presley smiled, it was quite remarkable. No, the man had to be Presley.
“It’s that other man that we hate to see here,” the nurse said, then seemed to regret having spoken out of turn.
“What man was that?” Samantha asked, her ears perking up.
“The brother. Not the nice one who’s in there with her now but the other one.”
Brian. “Has he visited much?”
“A couple of times with their father. Is he really as rich as everyone says?” She saw Samantha’s expression. “Sorry. A few times he came by alone. He was fine when the father was with them but the other times he upset Ms. Graham and this last time—”
“When was that?”
“An hour or two ago,” the nurse said, frowning as she looked at her watch. “I think he came about the time we were trying to revive Mr. Johnson. Anyway, I heard them arguing all the way down the hall and finally had to ask him to leave.”
What had Brian been arguing with his sister about? Presley Wells no doubt.
A call bell rang at the nurses’ station. The nurse excused herself and hustled down the hallway.
Samantha heard Alex come out of his sister’s room and turned to look at him. He looked awful and the news she had to give him wasn’t going to make him feel any better.
Chapter Sixteen
Alex raked a hand through his hair as he looked at Samantha. She looked as down as he felt. “Caroline’s lying through her teeth.”
Samantha nodded and motioned for him to follow her to the solarium. “Presley isn’t out of the country,” she said the moment they were alone. “He’s been here every night, staying by your sister’s bedside while she was unconscious.”
Alex swore. “How—?”
“He’s charmed the nurses into helping him sneak past the guards.”
“We’ll see about that.” He started to storm past Samantha, planning to see that those nurses lost their jobs—along with the guards he’d hired.
“Wait,” Samantha said, grabbing his arm. “You don’t want to do that. Think about Caroline. Obviously Presley cares about her. Why else hang around here?”
He swore and walked to the sliding doors, shoving them open to step out into the hot humid night air as he looked out at the city. What Samantha said made sense. Or did it? He stepped back into the air-conditioned room, closing the door behind him.
“Why would Presley hang around here, especially if I’m right and he’s hoodwinked my family, stolen their money and planning to take off?”
“Exactly,” Samantha said. “Maybe he did con your father and brother into investing with him. But he already has their money, right? What reason does he have to stick around but the fact that he loves your sister and can’t leave her now?”
“He wants something.”
“What?”
Alex shook his head. “Why sneak around the hospital at night? Why have Caroline and his office tell everyone he’s not even in the country? He isn’t done,” Alex said as the theory began to grow. “He’s waiting for something. Something he needs before he’s done. Maybe one more big score.”
“And how do you explain him coming to the hospital every night to be with Caroline?”
Alex looked up in surprise. “That’s it. He needs whatever it is from Caroline.” He glanced at his watch. “Presley comes by every night, right?”
She nodded.
“Then tonight we’ll be ready for him.” She started to object but he cut her off. “You have all those wonderful contacts. Can you get a video set up in my sister’s room? I’m sure we can get her out of the room long enough for your contacts to set up the equipment. Given what I have on that nurse I’m willing to bet she’ll help us.”
Samantha had the good sense not to argue. She got on her cell phone, turning away from him, as she made the arrangements. Clearly she thought the video would prove that Presley was just a man in love.
Alex was betting it was going to prove to be a lot more than that.
SAMANTHA GOT the technical team to come in and install the equipment while the nurse wheeled Caroline down the hall for what was supposed to be more X-rays.
Both Samantha and Alex stayed out of sight, wanting Caroline to believe they had left for the night. Samantha suspected that Caroline would call Presley when the coast was clear for him to return to the hospital.
She’d had the team set up a monitoring device so she and Alex would be able to not only see but hear everything that went on in Caroline’s room. All they had to do was wait in the empty hospital room down the hall.
Alex was sprawled in one of the chairs next to Samantha, both of them facing the screen. Nothing had happened since the nurse had returned Caroline to her room. Samantha was beginning to think that Caroline had warned Presley not to come tonight.
Then, just past nine, Caroline checked her watch and made a call.
“Brian, I need to see you,” she said, sounding more upset than she appeared on the video screen. “Yes now. It can’t wait. No, I can’t talk about it on the phone. I have to see you. It’s about Preston.” She listened for a moment, then hung up and checked her watch before lying back in the bed and closing her eyes.
“What the hell?” Alex said.
Samantha was just as surprised as Alex by the call to Brian. “The nurse told me that Brian upset Caroline on his recent visit and they had to ask him to leave.”
“Something’s up,” Alex said. “You saw the way she was acting.”
Samantha nodded and they waited. Not twenty minutes later, Brian slipped into Caroline’s room. Clearly, he had figured out a way to get past the nurse.
“So where is he?” Brian said without preamble once in Caroline’s room.
She shook her head, tears filling her eyes. “I don’t know. I just found out that he isn’t even Preston Wellington III. His name is Presley Wells.” She began to cry.
“I had no idea my sister was such a good actress,” Alex said under his breath.
Brian swore as he moved to the bed and tossed his sister the box of tissues. “I already knew that. I thought you had some new information. You got me over here for this?”
“You knew?” Caroline cried. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Brian shook his head, looking more than a little upset. “I need to find this fiancé of yours. Do you understand?”
Samantha figured Caroline understood perfectly.
“Could you just hold me for a minute?” Caroline asked, still crying.
Brian looked as though he’d rather leap out the window but he awkwardly leaned over and put his arms around her.
Caroline put her arms inside his coat and pulled him closer, drawing back a couple of times to blow her nose, until Brian seemed to have had enough.
“Look, you got the family into this mess, Caroline, you have to help me find him. If he calls you, find out where he is. You owe me.”
Caroline nodded, red-eyed and still weepy. “I’ll do everything I can, Brian. I’m so sorry.”
“Brian’s actually buying her act,” Alex said, sitting up and shaking his head in wonder.
As Brian left, Caroline shut down the waterworks instantly and reached beneath her covers to pull out a small object that Samantha recognized at once.
“She’s got Brian’s PDA.”
Alex was up out of his seat and pacing the floor. “What the hell? You can bet Presley Wells is behind this.”
But Samantha was thinking about what information Brian would have on his PDA—and what Alex had said about a last big score.
Presley showed up a little after eleven. It was all Alex could do not to storm down the hall and beat the hell out of him.
Instead, Samantha
stayed between him and the door just in case and he watched the monitor with her, pretty sure he knew what would happen next.
He watched Presley go to Caroline, hold her, kiss her, brush her hair back from her face, and felt uncomfortable witnessing something so personal and intimate.
Alex could feel Samantha’s gaze on him. “Okay, maybe he loves her. Or maybe he’s an even better actor than my sister.”
He watched Presley Wells lean over Caroline as if to give her a kiss, his heart in his throat. If the man made any kind of move to hurt her—Presley pulled back.
Caroline was smiling up at her fiancé. It broke Alex’s heart to see the love in her eyes. As Presley started to leave, she pulled him back as if somehow she knew she might never see him again. Alex saw fear in her face as Presley left. Then tears.
“Son of a bitch. She knows he’s not coming back. I have to see her. Keep an eye on Presley but I think we both know where he’s headed.”
Caroline’s eyes widened with fear when she saw Alex step into her room. “What are you doing here?” she asked, hurriedly drying her tears.
“I know Presley was just here. I know you gave him Brian’s PDA. Caroline, why?”
“Alex, you don’t understand. It isn’t what you think.”
“I know we sometimes do things when we’re in love…”
She shook her head. “It isn’t like that. Presley found out that Brian has been skimming money out of my trust fund. He needs to get into the records to prove it.”
Alex shook his head sadly. “Caroline, don’t you realize what you’ve done? He is going to clean out every dime and take off.”
“You’re wrong, Alex. He’s trying to protect me, our family, our baby. He loves me. You’ll see tonight, after he finds the evidence, you’ll see that you’re wrong about him.”
Alex nodded, unable to argue anymore with his sister. She loved the man and was blind to what was happening. Later, Alex would come back because Caroline was going to need him. Arguing with her now wasn’t going to make that easier for her later.
“Everything is going to be all right,” he said.
“Presley knows what he’s doing.”
Alex didn’t doubt that for a moment.
B. J. Daniels Page 16
