River Road

by Jayne Ann Krentz

  He stroked her, finding the trigger spots that he had learned in the course of their first night together. She clenched herself around the two fingers he had inside her. He probed gently, deliberately. She sucked in her breath. Her nails bit into his shoulders.

  “There,” she got out. “Yes, there.”

  He gave a hoarse laugh. “You learn fast.”

  He used his mouth on her, starting with her breasts and moving lower and lower until she gasped and clutched at his head, snagging her fingers in his hair.

  “What are you doing?” she yelped. “No, wait, I’m not sure—”

  But it was too late, she was already climaxing. He could feel the delicate waves shivering through her lower body, taste the essence of her. She shrieked.

  “Mason.”

  When it was over she collapsed, laughing, breathless, blushing.

  “That was amazing,” she said, sounding and looking stunned. “Absolutely amazing. I’ve never wanted anyone to do that before. I wasn’t sure I wanted you to do it.”

  “You are delicious,” he said. He kissed her shoulder. “Everywhere. I like it when you scream my name the way you did just then. I like it a lot.”

  She used her palms to push him slightly away from her.

  “Show me what you like,” she said.

  Curiosity and determination illuminated her eyes.

  He smiled slowly. “Trust me, I like everything you do to me.”

  “I’m serious. I want to know what works for you—what really works.”

  She slipped her palm down the front of his chest and captured him in her hand. She pumped him slowly, tightening her fingers until he thought he would go a little mad.

  “That works,” he managed, his voice suddenly tight. “That definitely works.”

  She giggled, rolled him onto his back and kissed his throat, his chest, and then she went lower. When he felt her tongue on him, he knew he had reached the breaking point.

  “Now,” he said. “I need to be inside you right now.”

  He caught hold of her arms and pulled her back up his body so that she sat astride him. He used one hand to guide himself into her, holding his breath while he strained violently against his own self-imposed control.

  Then he was surging deep into her snug, wet heat. She tried to glide up and down on him, but he caught her hips, forcing her to let him set the rhythm. She tightened herself around him. So tight. Impossibly tight. He could not take any more.

  His climax hit him in a shattering rush. He abandoned himself to the tide and let it sweep him out to sea.

  41

  It was all falling apart.

  The carefully conceived plan was going to crash and burn, Quinn thought. Hell, his whole life had been going in the wrong direction since what he had come to think of as the Summer of Brinker.

  It was as if he had been driving down a dark road for years and was now thoroughly lost. He had taken any number of wrong turns along the way, trying to find the right route, but each miscalculation had made things worse. He should have walked away from Colfax Inc. that summer when Brinker had swept into his life like a sorcerer—fascinating, dangerous and seemingly invincible, until the night Mason Fletcher had confronted him.

  Brinker’s rage that night had been terrifying. Infuriated by his inability to lure Mason Fletcher into his web, he had vowed a long and horrible revenge. Quinn was certain that someone would die. And in the end, someone had died—Brinker.

  But Brinker’s disappearance had not changed the course of his own life, Quinn thought. He had kept going in the wrong direction. Except for Jillian. She was the only right move he had ever made, and now he was going to lose her.

  He swallowed some of the vodka and orange juice he had mixed for himself and went to stand at the window. He stared, unseeing, at the elegantly laid-out vineyards. He hated the winery, just as he loathed Colfax Inc. There had been a time in his life when he had believed that he would one day inherit the empire his father had built and go on to make it even larger and more powerful. He had clung to those dreams for years, desperately trying to please a father who could never be appeased, let alone pleased.

  It was his parents’ divorce that had finally opened his eyes. When Warner immediately remarried the bitch it had all become clear. Warner never intended for his firstborn son to inherit the Colfax empire. He planned to beget himself a new heir.

  Quinn knew that he’d had another chance to walk away at that point. Instead, he had allowed Jillian to talk him into staying. And then had come the news of the merger offer, and with it the opportunity of a lifetime to exact revenge. If the merger went through, Colfax Inc. would be swallowed up and effectively cease to exist. He and Jillian could walk away with a great deal of money.

  Once again he had chosen to stay. He needed the money if he was going to have a chance in hell of hanging on to Jillian.

  He heard the heavy footsteps in the hall and dropped down into his chair. He took another swallow of the vodka and orange juice to fortify himself and waited.

  The door of the office slammed open. Warner Colfax stormed into the room.

  “What the hell is going on?” Warner demanded. “I heard that Mason Fletcher came here to see you yesterday afternoon. This morning it’s all over town that he was in a car accident and wound up in the hospital. What was he doing here?”

  Quinn lounged back in his chair and stacked his heels on the corner of the desk. He took another pull on his drink.

  “You mean the great, all-knowing Warner Colfax hasn’t figured out what’s happening? There was a time when you knew everything that was going on in your kingdom. Careful, Dad. You’re slipping.”

  Warner’s face flushed a dull red. “It’s three-thirty in the afternoon. How much have you had to drink?”

  Quinn contemplated his glass. “First one all day. I decided it was time to celebrate.”

  “Celebrate what?”

  “My departure from Colfax Wines. I’m quitting as of today. What else would I be celebrating?”

  Warner planted both hands on the desk and leaned forward, eyes glittering. “What are you talking about?”

  Quinn rolled the glass between his palms. “Where to begin? Shall I start with the fact that I strongly suspect that Lucy Sheridan is refusing to sell her shares to you or anyone else because she thinks Sara and Mary were murdered?”

  “That’s ridiculous. They died in a car accident. Everyone knows that.”

  “Not sure Lucy is buying that.”

  Warner’s brows snapped together. “That’s why she’s being so damn stubborn about the shares?”

  “I think so, yes. Got a hunch she isn’t the only one who believes there was something suspicious about the accident. Hence the visit from Fletcher yesterday.”

  “Damn it. What did he want from you?” Warner asked.

  “Answers. He seemed mostly interested in the past. So I told him what he had already guessed—that thirteen years ago, Brinker was furious because Fletcher refused to join the merry little band of acolytes who worshipped the awesome Brinker. I also told him that Brinker was enraged because Fletcher rescued Lucy Sheridan the night of the final party at the ranch.”

  “Rescued her from what?”

  “I think Sara Sheridan was right,” Quinn said. “I think Brinker was the Scorecard Rapist. There is no doubt in my mind that he intended to make Lucy one of his victims. Fletcher heard rumors the afternoon of the party. That’s why he showed up that night.”

  “You knew Brinker was the rapist? Or are you just guessing?”

  “I didn’t know it at the time. But I’m dead certain of it now. He used me like he used everyone else, but we weren’t friends. He never confided in me. However, he was so pissed off that night after Fletcher warned him never to go near Lucy Sheridan again that he sort of
lost it. He started making threats. When I left him there by the river he was practically frothing at the mouth. I decided I’d do my one good deed of a lifetime and warn Sara Sheridan that Lucy was in danger. But Brinker was gone by morning. I figured that in spite of all his bluster he really was scared of Fletcher.”

  Warner looked dumbfounded. “You never told me any of this.”

  “Why would I?” Quinn laughed. “You thought Brinker was a terrific role model for me, remember? You kept telling me how strong he was, how he would one day be a real force to be reckoned with in the business world. And maybe he would have been, if he had lived.” Quinn winked. “Between you and me, I always assumed that Fletcher was the one who punched Brinker’s ticket. Who knew Sara Sheridan had it in her?”

  “I don’t believe any of this. You’re drunk, and you’re making up the whole story.”

  “In that case, you probably don’t want to hear that your handpicked, high-priced CEO is screwing your new brood-mare wife, either.”

  Warner stared at him. “Shut your damn drunken mouth.”

  “Give me a break—everyone knows. Any heirs you get from her will have Cecil Dillon’s DNA. But it’s moot, anyway, because I doubt that Ashley has any intention of getting pregnant by either of you. She’s in this for the money, pure and simple. Big mistake on her part. But she’s smart enough to know when to cut her losses. As soon as she realizes that the merger is going to fail, she’ll grab the jewelry and the Porsche and disappear.”

  “It’s not true.” Warner’s face was splotchy with rage. “None of it’s true. I swear, if you don’t stop talking like this—”

  “You’ll do what?” Quinn slammed the glass down on his desk and surged to his feet. “Cut me out of your will? Go for it, Dad. Damned if I care.”

  “You won’t walk away from Colfax Inc.,” Warner said again. But his voice was shaky now. “You’re mad because I didn’t let you take control of my company. But you didn’t deserve to take the helm of Colfax Inc. You were too weak to run the business.”

  Quinn smiled. “You know what? You’re right. I don’t have the stomach for Colfax Inc. Good thing for me that I socked away a fair amount of cash six months ago when I started to get suspicious of those glowing company financials.”

  “Glowing financials? What are you talking about?”

  “Come off it, Dad. You know what they say in the investment world. If it looks too good to be true, it probably is too good to be true.”

  “Are you saying you know something I don’t know about my business?”

  “I’m telling you that I’m damn suspicious of Cecil Dillon and those incredibly good numbers he’s been producing for you these past few months. I’m also telling you that I’m damn sick of this job here at the winery. Which is why I’ll be handing in my resignation this afternoon.”

  Warner blinked. His mouth was open, but for a few seconds no words came out. Evidently, it had never dawned on him that his son might one day simply walk away.

  “What about Jillian?” he finally rasped. “She’ll have something to say about you leaving the wine country.”

  “Jillian will do what she wants, but I think it’s safe to say she won’t be coming with me. In spite of appearances, I’m not stupid. I realize that she has stuck around as long as she has for the same reasons the brood mare has stayed. She liked the money and the social status here in the valley.”

  The possibility that Jillian would leave him now was shredding his insides. She was the reason he had stayed as long as he had. He knew how important it was to her to be connected to the Colfax family. Deep down, he was pretty sure it was the reason she had married him in the first place. It was his own damn fault that he loved her.

  “I don’t believe any of this.” Warner’s voice was thin and whispery now, his rage so great he could hardly talk. “It’s all a pack of lies.”

  Quinn shook his head. “Believe whatever you like. It’s not my problem anymore. Never was, come to think of it. Just took me all these years to realize it.”

  Warner spun around and stalked out of the office.

  Quinn waited until the door closed. Then the fury and the pain overwhelmed him.

  He picked up the half-empty glass and flung it against the wall. Shards rained down on the floor. The vodka and orange juice splashed across a picture of the Colfax family vineyards.

  The small act of violence was strangely clarifying. For the first time since the Summer of Brinker, Quinn knew what he needed to do. It was time to grow up and become a man.

  Jillian appeared in the doorway. She stared at the broken glass and the juice running down the wall. When she looked at him he saw the dread and fear in her eyes. His heart ached.

  “What just happened in here?” she said. “Warner was leaving as I was coming in. He’s in a rage.”

  “What happened is that I just quit my job. I won’t be working for Colfax Winery in the future. In fact, I won’t work for my father in any capacity whatsoever in the future.”

  Jillian studied him for what seemed like forever. “What are you going to do?”

  “I have no idea.” He took a deep breath and put it all on the line. “I’m walking away from everything, Jillian—the company, the winery, the money. I will understand if you don’t want to come with me.”

  She moved into the room and closed the door. “Do you think I married you for the Colfax name and the Colfax money?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know.”

  “I will tell you the truth,” Jillian said. “But first I need to tell you about the past.”

  42

  Mason was buckling the black leather belt of his jeans when his phone rang.

  “Perfect timing,” he said to Lucy. He crossed the small space to the end table.

  Lucy was in the process of buttoning her blouse over the lacy black bra. She smiled at him in the dresser mirror.

  “You look good like that,” he said. He could feel his body heating again.

  She tucked her blouse into the waistband of her trousers. Her eyes gleamed with sexy mischief.

  “I look good dressed?” she asked.

  “That way, too, but you look really, really good after hot sex. You’re all sort of pink and soft and cuddly.” He gave up trying to find the right words. “I don’t know. Good.”

  The phone rang again. He glanced at the screen and his incipient arousal instantly metamorphosed into another kind of heat.

  “What have you got for me, Aaron?”

  “Maybe something,” Aaron said. “Maybe nothing.”

  Lucy sat down on the bed to put on her shoes. The aged springs creaked loudly.

  “Is there someone else with you?” Aaron asked. “Uncle Deke?”

  “Lucy’s here,” Mason said. He was suddenly conscious of the fact that he was taking the call in his bedroom. “Never mind. Tell me what you’ve got.”

  “Well, as we both predicted, what few financials I could find all appear to be clean. A little too clean. I had Alice look them over. Alice says they look fine, too. Actually, she said they look more than fine. They look surprisingly good, given the fluctuations in the market over the past few years. But here’s the kicker—two months ago one of the accountants at Colfax Inc. was let go with no notice. He just stopped showing up for work. Evidently, there were some social-media rumors going around at the time to the effect that he had been fired because he was caught embezzling.”

  Mason watched Lucy bustle around the bedroom, tidying the tumbled bedding. She looked adorable. The old headboard scraped against the wall when she tucked in one corner of the sheet.

  “What’s that?” Aaron asked.

  “Nothing. Have you got anything else for me?”

  “Alice highlighted the fired accountant as a red flag, even though it’s routine for companies to keep quiet about
embezzlement problems. So I got curious and looked a little deeper. Turns out there were some other rumors buzzing around in a couple of Internet chat rooms where disgruntled employees from various financial firms hang out.”

  “What kind of rumors?”

  Lucy was tucking in the corners of the quilt now. The headboard groaned.

  “Is Lucy moving furniture or something?” Aaron asked.

  “Tell me about the rumors, Aaron.”

  “Where are you guys?”

  “At the cabin. The rumors. Now.”

  “Oh, yeah, right, the rumors. There were some veiled references to Colfax Inc. from one member of the chat room. Alice and I both think there’s a high probability that the comments were posted by the fired accountant. He indicated that he had been forced out because he had uncovered some discrepancies in the company’s financials.”

  “Go on.”

  “According to him, when he took his concerns to management he was told someone would look into the matter. The following day the accountant was terminated without notice and given the impression that he was suspected of embezzlement. He was assured that no charges would be brought if he went quietly. He was escorted to his car by a security guard.”

  “Any chance you can find the accountant?”

  “I’ve got his address.”

  Lucy walked past Mason and paused in the doorway. “I think I hear a car in the drive,” she whispered. “Probably Deke.”

  She disappeared out into the hall. Her footsteps echoed on the stairs.

  “What did she say?” Aaron asked.

  “Nothing.” Mason went quickly out of the bedroom and started down the stairs. “Deke took off about an hour ago to have a look around the Colfax Winery. Whoever drugged me yesterday tried to run me off the road. We think the vehicle may have belonged to the winery.”

  “What the hell? Uncle Deke didn’t tell me about that part. Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine. But the situation is getting complicated. That’s why I need you to talk to the accountant. I want to know what he found in the Colfax financials that caused him to take his concerns to upper management.”