No Risk Refused

by Cara Summers

  But she had. He could sense it even before she spoke. “Mr. Banes wants nothing to stand in the way of the wedding. But I’ve decided that I do.”

  Daryl stared at her. “I thought you agreed that we need to catch this guy.”

  “I do. But he doesn’t even want to talk to his bride-to-be. He just wants to talk to his mother-in-law-to-be. To make sure she gets her daughter to the wedding. And I don’t want Rexie to have two failed marriages on her hands.”

  “Ms. MacPherson, the man you know as Banes—”

  Daryl broke off when Cam put a hand on his arm. “She’s got a plan, Daryl. Wait for it. Go ahead, Adair.”

  “There’s no reason why the wedding has to be real, right? All we have to do is convince Banes it’s real. We’re going to run our own scam.”

  “I think I’m going to like this,” Cam said.

  She beamed him a smile before turning to the sheriff. “You can handle it with Reverend Foley, can’t you? He can get sick, send in a sub at the last minute?”

  “Someone who has no legal authority to marry them.” Skinner’s eyes sparkled. “I think I might be able to arrange that.” Then the sheriff shifted his gaze to Daryl. “With that one modification, I’ll agree to go along with your plan.”

  Daryl raised his two hands in a mock surrender. “I’ve got no problem with running a scam on a scam artist.”

  Skinner nodded. “After I interview Banes about his accident I’ll post a discreet guard on him here at the clinic. My deputy Timmy can pass for a college student. He also has some technological skills. I’ll see if he can plant a bug in the room. In the meantime, I think the three of you might want to get back up to the castle. If I wanted to have some uninterrupted time to search the place, I might figure staging a little accident like this would be a good way to focus everyone’s attention elsewhere.”

  “I’ll follow you back,” Daryl said to Cam as they left the clinic.

  Once they were pulling out of the parking lot, Adair pulled her cell out of her pocket. After the fifth ring she said, “Aunt Vi?”

  Turning to Cam she said, “Aunt Vi’s fine, but Alba has disappeared.”

  13

  HEARING THE REAL worry in her aunt’s voice, Adair turned her speakerphone on. “Aunt Vi, we’re on our way back right now.” She glanced at her watch. Nearly four-thirty. She quickly calculated. “We’ll be there in five minutes. Cam is listening, too. Tell us what happened.”

  “Alba started acting strangely shortly after you and Cam left. I was working in the kitchen and she began growling at the terrace doors. I had them locked just as we all agreed. Wes Pinter was working on the hedges that run along the back of the garden and I assumed he was disturbing her. Though he never has before.”

  “What else, Aunt Vi?”

  “I settled her down, but she wouldn’t move away from the terrace. About half an hour ago she started barking again and scratching at the glass. So I let her out and she tore off through the garden. I didn’t catch sight of her again until I got to the edge of the clearing by the stone arch. She ran right through and then she disappeared into the woods beyond. I chased after her, but I slipped and fell on some loose stones on the floor of the arch.”

  “Are you hurt?” Adair asked.

  “No. But stumbling slowed me down. By the time I reached the trees there was no sign of her. She’d started growling again and I heard a yelp. But I can’t even hear her bell now.”

  “Where are you now, Vi?” Cam asked.

  “I’m at the stone arch. There’s no one here now. I think Alba chased them away and they may have hurt her.”

  “Where’s Wes Pinter?” Cam asked.

  “I can’t see him anywhere. I tried him on his cell before Adair called. He didn’t pick up.”

  “Stay right where you are and keep your phone line open,” Cam said. “We’re only minutes away.”

  Adair gripped the armrest with all of her might as Cam careened the car onto the dirt road that wound its way through the hills to the castle.

  “Aunt Vi?” Pushing down hard on fear, she turned to Cam. “She’s not answering. I think I’ve lost her.”

  “Almost there,” Cam said.

  In the rearview mirror she could see Daryl Garnett’s car through a cloud of dust. Both men could drive like the devil, but she wished they could go even faster.

  “We never should have left her there alone,” she said, finally giving voice to the guilt that was plaguing her.

  “She isn’t alone. Pinter is there. Plus, your aunt’s a smart woman.”

  Adair hung on to all those thoughts as Cam shot his car over the crest of the hill that ended in the castle driveway. Wes Pinter’s truck was parked close to the castle. Cam pulled in behind it, and the instant the tires screeched to a halt she jumped out of the car and circled the hood. She could just see the stone arch, nearly a football field away. Pines grew thick and tall on the hill that rose sharply behind it. She started toward them. “Aunt Vi?”

  Cam grabbed her arm. “Wait.” Then he turned to Daryl, who’d parked behind them and was already approaching. Quickly he filled him in on their conversation with Vi.

  By the time he finished, Vi had appeared from the back of the arch and was running toward them. Adair raced to meet her.

  “They make a pretty picture,” Daryl murmured to Cam as the two women embraced. Then he strode forward, his hand extended to Vi. “I’m Daryl Garnett, ma’am. I work at the CIA with Cam.”

  “Viola MacPherson,” Vi said as she took his hand.

  “Where was the dog the last time you saw her?” Daryl asked.

  “She was running into the woods behind the stone arch. That was ten minutes ago. I haven’t heard anything since.” Vi’s hand was still clasped in Daryl’s when she turned to Cam and Adair. “I’m worried about Wes Pinter, too. Right after I talked to Adair, I tried to reach him on his cell phone again. I thought he could help me look for Alba. But he didn’t answer.”

  “Why don’t we split up?” Daryl suggested. “Ms. MacPherson and I will look for Alba and you two can check on your gardener.”

  “Sure.” Then Cam watched his boss and Vi start back toward the stone arch.

  “He sure works fast,” Cam murmured.

  Adair stared at him. Then she shifted her gaze to Daryl and Vi. “You think he likes Aunt Vi? They just met.”

  Cam met her eyes. “Sometimes it happens just that fast.” That was how it had happened to him. One long look beneath that stone arch and he hadn’t recovered since. He couldn’t quite get his footing even now. He caught one of her hands and raised it to his lips. “Some of us are just slower realizing it.”

  The quick flash of understanding and panic he saw in her eyes was such a perfect match to what he was feeling that it steadied him. He grinned at her. “We have some time to make up for. But first, we have to find Wes Pinter.”

  Keeping her hand in his, he strode through the garden toward the terrace at the back of the castle. The place was silent except for the noise of their footsteps on the path. But there was no sign of Pinter, nor was there any sound except for the lap of water against the shore below them and the hum of bees. The terrace was empty too and the sinking sun slanted long shadows across the pavers. Nothing looked out of place.

  “It’s too quiet,” Adair said, echoing his thoughts.

  The sliders to the kitchen stood open, but the door that led to the rest of the castle was closed. Cam moved toward it.

  “Aunt Vi said whoever Alba was barking at was outside,” Adair said.

  “I just want to check the library.” The door was only a short distance down the hall. He still believed that somehow the library held the key they needed. Once he opened the door he said, “Stay close, and see if you notice anything that’s been disturbed since we were here earlier.”

  They walked together down the narrow room, stopping to check the chair near the fireplace where Vi had been sure someone had been sitting quite recently.

  “It all looks
the same,” Adair said.

  “Yeah.” But he drew her with him all the way to the sliding glass doors that opened onto another terrace. They were locked.

  Outside a hummingbird hovered at a bright red feeder, but it shot away like a bullet as soon as Cam opened the door. There was no view of the lake on this side of the castle; instead, paving stones bordered with green moss separated the castle from a well-tended lawn before the treed hillside sloped sharply upward.

  Tucked into one corner of the space was a gardening shed, its door slightly ajar. Adair’s sharp intake of breath told him that she spotted the boots through the open door just as he did. They broke into a run and found Wes Pinter seated on the floor and rubbing the side of his head.

  Cam squatted down. “You all right?”

  “Headache. Came back here to put away the hedge trimmers and he sneaked up on me. He slammed the door into me and I must have hit my head pretty good when I fell.”

  The hazel eyes that met Cam’s were undilated and clear.

  “I got a look at him,” Pinter said. “Shorter than me. Had a mustache and a beard. Longish hair.”

  Cam glanced at Adair.

  “Sounds like MacDonald,” she said.

  “Is Vi all right?” Pinter asked.

  “She’s fine.” Cam’s cell phone rang. After a few seconds, he turned to Adair. “Alba’s fine, too. They found her halfway up the hill. Daryl says she was knocked out, as well.”

  * * *

  FIFTEEN MINUTES LATER, Cam leaned his hip against a counter while the others sat at the table sipping tea. Wes had fully recovered. And Alba, who sat on Daryl’s lap being fed scones, looked as if she was also back to normal.

  Not only that, she’d gotten a piece of the bastard who’d hit her. Daryl and Vi had found a good-sized piece of khaki cloth clamped in her jaw, and it had a trace of blood on it.

  Wes’s description matched with MacDonald, but what had the man been after? Whatever it had been, he hadn’t bothered to look in the library for it.

  “There are a couple of ways to upgrade the security system here,” Daryl was saying to Vi and Adair. “I’ve no doubt that Cam has several suggestions in mind.”

  “I do, but I don’t think this guy wanted to break into the house today,” Cam said.

  Adair turned first to look at him. “Why not?”

  “He took the time to take out Wes.” He turned to Vi. “And you were in the kitchen from the time we left until you let Alba loose, right?”

  She nodded.

  “He could have seen that. You and the dog were safely inside. Wes wasn’t. That’s why he knocked him out.”

  “And Alba found him in the stone arch,” Adair said, rising from the table. “That’s what he was interested in.”

  “And he didn’t want to be interrupted,” Cam said. “I’ll check it out. The rest of you stay here with Daryl.”

  “Not so fast. I’m coming with you,” Adair said. “You’re the one who made the rule that nobody goes anywhere alone.”

  “You need any backup, you’ve got my number on your speed dial,” Daryl called after them.

  Cam was silent as they walked through the garden to the stone arch. Annoyed, Adair guessed. She’d sensed it in the kitchen while they’d been talking. His jaw was set, his body tense. More than annoyance. He was worried, too.

  “Whoever whacked Wes and Alba is long gone,” she said.

  He glanced up at the hills that rose around them on all sides. Clouds were rolling in fast over the lake, darkening the sky. “He’s watching right now. I’d put good money on it. And my instinct tells me that he’s getting desperate. He or she didn’t foresee that the earring would be discovered in the stone arch.”

  “I’ve been wondering about that, too. And why just the one earring? Why split up the pair?”

  They’d reached the arch, and Cam glanced up at it. “Maybe the rest of the jewels are here, too. That’s what I’d be thinking. I should have taken more precautions with you and your aunt.”

  “You can’t seriously be blaming yourself.”

  He faced her then. “I was supposed to come up here and keep you and Vi safe. Instead I talked you into chasing after Banes, and that allowed MacDonald or whoever he is to attack an old man and a dog. If we hadn’t gotten back here when we did…”

  Not just annoyance and worry. There was anger in his eyes and even in the hushed tone of his voice.

  Anger at himself.

  Her first impulse was to argue with him that she and Vi were perfectly capable of taking care of themselves. But she had a hunch that little lecture would fall on deaf ears. So she tried another approach.

  “So now you’re rehashing all the should-haves and could-haves. Crying over spilt milk. Is that what they teach you in the CIA?”

  He frowned at her. “Of course not.”

  “Then don’t. When one plan fails, what you have to do is concentrate on the next one. That’s what I’ve always done.”

  Cam stared at her then. “That could be it. If he’s the guy who’s been visiting the library, he must have been certain that something in there would pinpoint the location of the jewels. Now that he knows where one of the earrings turned up, he’s switching to Plan B. You’re a genius.”

  “I am?”

  “Bet on it.” He pulled her close and gave her a quick kiss. At least she sensed that was his intention. But the moment their mouths met, everything changed. It was as if she’d been struck by lightning.

  She felt the heat first, primal, powerful, raw. Then the shock of an electric sizzle shot through her system and thrust her heartbeat into overdrive. Greed followed and it was enormous.

  There were other sensations, too—the scrape of his teeth, the thrusting movement of his tongue, the press of those hard hands as they gripped her waist and lifted her to pull her closer.

  Each separate, staggering thrill built layer by layer on the earlier ones until she felt as if the pleasure might shatter her. Shatter them both.

  Cam couldn’t breathe. But there wasn’t time to worry about it. He needed more of her.

  Her taste consumed him. The variety and uniqueness of her flavors flooded his system until she was once again all he knew. The suspicion lurked in the back of his mind that he might search the world, and no other woman would please him this way or suit him so well.

  When she wrapped her arms and legs around him, he wanted more. Needed more. He took two staggering steps forward, pressed her against the wall. And reality came back in an icy rush.

  He lifted his head, drew in a breath. “Dammit.”

  He pried her loose from him, and she sank down on the ledge of rock that ran along one side of the arch. He slapped one hand on the wall to steady himself. Because he couldn’t feel his knees. Even then it took him a moment to fully focus. “We need to see what that bastard was doing in here. Figure out his Plan B.”

  Saying the words aloud helped him focus. He’d lost himself in her. The shocker was that once he’d pressed his mouth to hers he’d been powerless to do otherwise.

  Even more terrifying was the fact that he wanted to lose himself in her again. He shifted his gaze away. He’d come here to find what the guy was doing in the stone arch. “Vi said she slipped on some loose stones, right?”

  “Yes.”

  Thunder rolled overhead and he noticed that the sky had gone very dark.

  When she made a movement to rise, he said, “You’re going to stay here. Right where I can see you and you can see me.”

  “I know every inch of the inside of this arch.”

  “Then you can tell me if I’m missing anything.”

  Pulling out a penlight, he snapped it on. “Stay right here.” Then he began to make his way along one side of the wall. One thing he was sure of. However dangerous the threat that the intruder posed, Adair MacPherson posed an even bigger one for him.

  Adair watched him move away. She didn’t intend to stay put. The feeling would return to her legs any second and she would catch
up with him. In the dim backwash of light, she could make out Cam’s shadow hugging the wall, his head ducking now and then because of the uneven way the stones arched. He was thorough, running his hand down to the floor and testing for any loose stones.

  Closing her eyes, she thought of those hands and the way they could make her feel. And she wanted them on her again. She wanted his mouth on hers again. The first drops of rain splattered loudly on the stones overhead, and the sound had her eyes snapping open.

  Her heart took a long fall and then bounced when the realization struck her.

  She’d just kissed Cam Sutherland beneath the stone arch.

  No! That wasn’t supposed to happen. A fantasy fling was one thing. Anything else was…

  Lightning flickered and thunder rolled again.

  Impossible. Absolutely impossible.…

  She pressed a hand to her heart and felt a surge of relief that it was beating in the right place. Then she took a deep breath and reached for calm. It was just the fantasy that was coming true, she lectured herself. What better proof did she need than the kiss they’d just exchanged? It was…better than anything she could have imagined. The true stuff of fantasies.

  And their purpose in being here was not related to her fantasy or the legend. They had a problem.

  She jumped to her feet. “Find anything?”

  “Nothing loose or out of place on this side.” He started back to her, using the light to sweep the opposite wall as he moved.

  He hadn’t taken more than a few steps when she heard the crunch of stones beneath his shoes and watched him squat down.

  She rushed to his side. “You found something.”

  “What part of ‘stay there’ didn’t you understand?”

  “I’m with a CIA agent, right?” She was already on her knees, running her hands along the base of the wall. “There are some bigger ones loose. Maybe he found another part of Eleanor’s dowry.”

  Cam moved his penlight along the lower part of the arch. One larger stone jutted out. “Looks like he replaced some of the stones.”