No Risk Refused

by Cara Summers

  It was a long shot but his mother might have some insights on Eleanor’s dowry based on the new research she was doing, and when one of them called back he could fill A.D. in on the security situation.

  In the meantime he wasn’t any closer to dealing with his other problem—Adair. The curtained French doors that separated the main parlor from her office had allowed him to surreptitiously check on her, more times than he was comfortable with over the past hour. All he knew for certain was that he wanted to make love to her again.

  The low rumble of a male voice had him rising and moving quietly to one side of the French doors. She hadn’t said she was expecting anyone. With two fingers he pushed against the edge of one of the curtains. The man seated in one of Adair’s client chairs had his back to the French doors. He had dark, neatly trimmed hair and the hint of gray told Cam that he was probably somewhere in his forties. Adair’s smile was easy and bright but there was a tension in her shoulders. Not fear, he decided. Nerves.

  He twisted the knob, eased the door open a crack, then leaned back against the wall to listen.

  * * *

  “I’M SORRY IF I startled you, Ms. MacPherson, but I wanted to see you privately.”

  Adair’s mind raced as she tried to ignore the knot of nerves in her stomach. Even in casual clothes Lawrence Banes looked as if he’d just stepped off the pages of GQ. “You’ve made a long drive for a private conversation.”

  “Not at all. At Bunny’s request I stayed in town overnight at one of the bed-and-breakfasts. She wanted me to be close by because of Rexie. We were all worried about her. But it turned out my help wasn’t needed after all. In fact, we decided that a mother-daughter evening was just what Rexie needed to soothe her nerves.”

  He propped one loafered foot on his knee just as his cell phone vibrated. He slipped it out of his pocket, frowned, then set it on the edge of her desk. Finally he glanced up and smiled at her.

  It was the first time that Lawrence Banes had turned the full strength of his charm on her and Adair realized why Rexie might find this man attractive.

  “When they left my office two hours ago the wedding was definitely on. Didn’t they tell you?”

  “Yes. Bunny sent me a text, so I left Glen Loch shortly after they did to keep a business appointment in Albany. About an hour ago Bunny called me back. She told me that Rexie talked to you about her first husband and it evidently stirred up memories.”

  Adair took a moment to study him. The last person she’d expected to walk into her office unannounced was Lawrence Banes. And in spite of the smile and the casual attitude he was trying to project, there was a tension in him. Albany was a good forty-five-minute drive from the castle, and nothing he’d said so far seemed to warrant him circling back out of his way before returning to Long Island.

  “Is that what you wanted to talk to me about?”

  “Yes. Bunny and I feel that it’s a mistake to remind Rexie of her first marriage, especially when she’s feeling so fragile. How much did she tell you about it?” Lawrence asked.

  “Not a lot. She told me she and Barry met at Cornell and it was love at first sight. But they came from very different backgrounds.” That was about as bare bones as she could make it. Adair hoped that Lawrence would fill in some blanks.

  “Different worlds is the best way to describe what they came from,” he said. “Rexie has led a very pampered life. Her parents have always provided everything for her.”

  “And you believe you can offer her that same kind of life, the one her parents want for her,” Adair said.

  “Exactly. Her first husband wanted her to give up everything and go back to live with him in the wilds of Montana. Can you picture that? Anyone can see she doesn’t have that kind of strength.”

  “When did you and Rexie meet?” Adair asked.

  “Eight months ago. It was at a charity event the Maitlands were throwing on their estate. Several of my clients were there and they’d offered to introduce me to Bunny and Win. When I first saw Rexie she looked so lonely. Her husband had gone back to Montana for a funeral and stayed. At her mother’s suggestion I offered her a sympathetic ear.”

  “There’s quite an age difference between you.”

  Banes’s smile turned wry. “Why is a difference in age always remarked upon? The fact that I’m a bit older than Rexie is probably why I was able to help her get through a bad time.”

  Banes’s phone vibrated. With a slight frown he picked it up. “I have to take this.” Rising, he moved quickly to step out onto the terrace.

  * * *

  CAM MOVED AS close as he could get to the doors that opened from the main parlor to the terrace that adjoined the one outside Adair’s office. He’d already guessed that the man who’d dropped in on her unannounced was Lawrence Banes and very probably Gianni Scalzo.

  He watched Banes walk to the far end of the terrace before he took the call on his cell.

  Whatever he said into the phone was muffled by distance. Cam stepped onto the terrace and, using potted trees for cover, edged as close as he could before he dropped down to his knees behind one of them. Luckily Banes was facing in the other direction. If the man turned his way the plant might not offer enough of a shield.

  “…told you…I had to talk to her,” Banes said.

  Cam couldn’t make out what the person on the other side of the call was saying. But he could catch the tone. Anger. And he had a lot to say. Cam counted ten good beats before Banes cut the person off.

  “I’m going to marry Rexie Maitland.” Banes’s voice was soft but there was anger there, too.

  Banes paced to the far end of the terrace, out of earshot. When he reached the low wall of stones he propped one foot on the top of a flat rock and rested his forearm on his knee.

  The stance had recognition streaming through Cam. He was looking at one of the men who’d been at the pond earlier. He would have bet good money on it.

  Moving slowly, he began to inch his way back toward the doors to the parlor so that he could be in position when Banes returned to the office.

  * * *

  ADAIR WATCHED THROUGH the open terrace doors as Lawrence Banes lifted his foot to rest it on one of the flat stones bordering the terrace. The instant he placed his forearm on his thigh, his stance and the tension in his body triggered the blurred image that she recalled seeing earlier through that tiny gap in the waterfall. The longer she looked, the more convinced she became that the man she’d seen talking to Nathan MacDonald by the pond had been Lawrence Banes.

  How were the two men connected? And why had they been in the woods?

  When Lawrence took his foot down, she backed away toward her desk. Shooting a quick glance at the French doors that connected to the main parlor, she was almost sure she saw the shadow of someone through the curtains. So Cam was eavesdropping.

  “Sorry about that, Ms. MacPherson.” Banes returned to his chair and placed his cell phone on the edge of her desk. He ran a hand through his hair. His smile seemed a bit thinner, his face more tired. “What were we saying?”

  “Rexie says that you and her father are involved in some kind of business merger and that the marriage is connected to that,” Adair said.

  Banes’s eyes narrowed. “Win and I are going to sign a partnership agreement right after the ceremony. It’s not a secret, but I’m not sure exactly why you’ve brought it up.”

  “You seem to be concerned about what Rexie and I talked about this morning. She told me that the deal between you and her father is one of the reasons she’s determined to go forward with the wedding.”

  “Ah,” Banes said, relaxing a little. “That sounds like Rexie. She always wants to please her parents. Which is why I wonder how she ever got herself mixed up with the Montana cowboy. But—” Banes raised his hands and spread his fingers “—you know how women are.…”

  “I do.” Adair managed to keep her smile sweet. “But Rexie’s first marriage, a mistake or not, was for love. And neither she nor you has mentio
ned love as one of the reasons for your upcoming marriage.”

  “Of course I love her,” Banes said, his tone a bit hurt. “I was under the impression she loved me. I knew she had concerns about marrying again so soon, and when she read about this place and insisted on having the wedding here I championed her cause. I knew the legend would set her mind at rest.”

  Adair said nothing.

  “I’d expect that you’d be grateful for that, that you’d want this wedding tomorrow just as much as I do. You have a lot riding on it.”

  “I do.” She kept her voice pleasant. “I’m the last person in the world who wants Rexie to call off the wedding. What I don’t understand is what you want me to do that I haven’t already done.”

  Lawrence Banes drew in a deep breath and seemed to collect himself. “Sorry. It’s just that this wedding means a lot to me. Rexie means a lot to me. Bunny’s call upset me because I don’t think it’s good for Rexie to be thinking about her first marriage. You have no idea how long it took to get her past the divorce papers. She’s in a very fragile state. Moving on is the best thing that can happen to her. Once the wedding takes place everything will be fine—for all of us.”

  In spite of her growing doubts about that, Adair kept her smile bright. “I want you to know that I’m going to do everything possible to make sure that the wedding goes very smoothly on Saturday.”

  “Good.”

  As Adair rose, Banes unfolded himself from his chair and glanced at his watch. “I have a pressing appointment. But now that we understand each other, I’m going to leave the matter entirely in your hands.”

  Adair waited only until Lawrence Banes exited out onto the terrace doors before she circled her desk to follow him. She was only halfway there when Cam stepped into the room.

  “I’m almost positive that my nervous about-to-be bridegroom was one of the men we saw at the pond,” she said in a low tone.

  He smiled at her. “You’ve got good eyes. And I’m in total agreement.”

  “But what was he doing there?”

  “Very good question. I could go after him and ask him.”

  Adair saw the reckless gleam flash into his eyes. “Or?”

  “We could follow him and see who his pressing appointment is with. Knowledge is power.”

  “Much better idea. Give me time to tell Aunt Vi.”

  11

  IT TOOK ADAIR three minutes to give Aunt Vi the condensed version of what had happened while Cam alerted Wes Pinter, who was still trimming hedges, that they were leaving. Cam was behind the wheel of his sporty black convertible with the motor running when she slipped into the passenger seat.

  “Buckle up,” he said. But he didn’t wait for her to finish the task before he sent the car flying forward. She clicked the belt in place and clutched the edge of the seat as he floored the gas pedal. By the time they reached the end of the drive and hit the graveled road that twisted away from the castle, the speedometer read fifty and rising.

  “Banes has quite a head start,” she managed to say as they squealed around the first curve.

  “Maybe not so much. Wes Pinter says my car has been the only one parked in the drive since your Mr. MacDonald left.”

  “So Banes didn’t park near the castle, and he lost some time walking to his—” She broke off to suck in a breath as he twisted the car sharply into the next curve.

  When the road straightened again he shot her a grin. “Hopefully he has an ego car with less maneuverability.”

  “Ego car?”

  “You know, a sleek, dark colored sedan that shouts, ‘I’m successful,’ and sucks on a curve like this one.”

  As he negotiated the next curve, Adair’s heart was racing almost as fast as the engine.

  “You’re good at this,” she said.

  “CIA training.”

  As the road leveled for a stretch, she managed to take her eyes away from it and she fastened her attention on Cam. His hands were so sure on the wheel, just as sure and competent as they’d been on her. And he was grinning. She should be scared out of her mind but she wanted to grin, too. “Is this why you went into the CIA? For the excitement? The car chases?” she asked.

  “Partly. I love my mom and my brothers, but they’re so different. Duncan and my mom are addicted to burying themselves in books and research, although Duncan does get out in the field when his team is working a case. In fact, right now he’s in Montana on a big case—tracking a serial killer. Reid loves the straight and narrow. He’s totally focused on climbing to the top rung of his job at the Secret Service. I like the variety of the CIA and the fact that I don’t always have to follow the rules.”

  She’d known that Cam was someone who wouldn’t be bound by rules the first time she’d ever looked into those twilight-blue eyes. She’d always been attracted to that part of him. Even though she liked rules, relied on them and believed there had to be a reward for following them.

  As they crested the hill and shot down the other side, gravel spewed and pinged. Adair held tight and laughed as Cam twisted the car around the next curve. To hell with the rules.

  “I eavesdropped on your conversation with Banes. Do you believe he’s marrying Rexie for love or money?” he asked.

  She thought for a few seconds. “Yesterday I would have said his motives were strictly business. He was so detached at the rehearsal. He seemed more interested in talking on his cell phone than he was in what was going on. But then he stayed in town last night. And he came to see me today. Maybe he has some feelings for her.”

  “His cell was keeping him pretty busy while he was talking with you today.”

  They’d reached the bottom of the hill. Ahead of them the road threaded this way and that before climbing again. Adair spotted a car, a sleek, dark sedan, nearly at the top of the next crest. She pointed a finger. “Looks like an ego car to me.”

  “Hold on,” Cam warned as he floored the gas pedal again.

  “The only thing that I’m absolutely sure about is that Lawrence Banes definitely wants to marry Rexie tomorrow. And he doesn’t want me to contact the first husband. I had calling Barry Carlson as a possibility on my To Do list, and I couldn’t find it when I sorted through the papers I stuffed in that drawer.”

  “You think Banes might have been in your office before his trip to the pond and saw it?” Cam tapped the brake as he eased into a tricky hairpin curve.

  “I’m thinking he took it. And he was worried enough about the possibility of my calling Montana to come back to caution me against it.”

  “His visit with you didn’t go down well with whoever he was talking to on his cell. I couldn’t hear everything but Banes did mention that the wedding was on, and the guy on the other end didn’t seem pleased. And he and MacDonald were definitely arguing at the falls.”

  Cam had decreased the speed in order to maneuver through the twists and turns as they climbed the next hill.

  “I wish I had a pad and paper so I could draw a timeline,” Adair mused aloud.

  “Just picture it in your mind as you talk it through,” Cam said. “That’s what I do.”

  “Banes says he stayed overnight in Glen Loch to be on call if Bunny needed him. But she didn’t. Then this morning he claims he went to Albany for a business meeting and doubled back when she called and told him that Rexie had spoken to me about her first husband. Nathan MacDonald also says he was passing through Glen Loch and heard about Castle MacPherson from the locals.”

  “We can ask Sheriff Skinner to check it out,” Cam said. “Be nice if someone saw them together. Be even nicer if Banes is on his way to meet MacDonald right now.” Easing the car around the last of the curves Cam pressed his foot harder on the gas.

  “Is it too big a leap to think that one of them might have stirred Alba up when Aunt Vi and I unwrapped the earring yesterday?”

  Cam grinned at her. “Theorizing possibilities is a key part of an agent’s job. Go with it.”

  “I’m favoring MacDonald. He had that cam
era with him and it has a telephoto lens. Maybe he was just hiking along the trail that winds through the hills above the castle gardens and he happened to see Alba dig up the earring. Next morning he calls for an appointment and arrives in time to see me racing up to the house with that metal box clutched in my hands.”

  “He sees it on your desk, then leaves and waits for you to take off for a walk,” Cam said. “It’s not long after that I follow you and he can walk right into your office and into the main parlor.”

  “Maybe he calls Banes to join him. Maybe Banes shows up on his own. But they don’t find the earring or the rest of the jewels, so they follow us into the woods,” Adair said.

  “And they have an argument. They leave, but Banes comes back. And whoever contacted him on his cell was not happy about that.”

  “Then we’ve got the interesting fact that Banes didn’t park his ego car at the castle. Who was he hiding from?” Adair asked.

  “Good question. You’ve got the mind of a good operative.”

  “Yeah, well, maybe it will be my fallback career if the Banes/Maitland wedding suddenly crashes and burns.”

  Cam took one hand off the wheel to give hers a quick squeeze. “One thing my CIA trainer always told me—it’s not over until the fat lady sings.’”

  They were nearly at the top of the hill when the noise erupted, a squeal of tires, then the crash of metal and glass, once, twice, then a final time. The silence afterward was almost louder than the sounds that preceded it.

  They crested the hill, and at first they saw nothing. Cam floored the gas pedal and they were halfway down before he spotted the first signs of the skid. Easing his foot onto the brake, he followed the marks around a sharp curve. To their right a fender lay against the trunk of a thick pine.

  “Over there,” Adair pointed.