Countdown

by Carey Baldwin

  Then he chuckled inwardly at his own foolishness.

  Lilly couldn’t be in on Rose’s plan to destroy him because: A. She had no reason and B. She had no gumption.

  He touched his finger beneath Lilly’s chin, raising her gaze to his, simultaneously exposing her long slender neck to his scrutiny.

  He counted her delicate tracheal rings, calculating how much force it would take to crush them should he decide to wind his fingers around her neck.

  “Tommy . . .” Her throat worked in a long swallow, her body canting toward him like he was pulling her by a magician’s scarf.

  He stepped farther away, teasing his little mouse.

  No. She wasn’t in on it.

  Lilly was as much a victim in Rose’s scheme as he. More so, because not only had Rose stolen from Lilly a rich and attentive (if not faithful) potential husband, but now, Rose’s actions were going to cost Lilly her life.

  Maybe sooner. Maybe later.

  How the game played out would determine the timing of Lilly’s demise—unless of course he lost patience with her.

  Too bad she wasn’t as worthy an opponent as her twin.

  “I’m so sorry, Tommy. I don’t understand Rose at all. She hasn’t been acting like herself for months. I think maybe Papa’s death—” Her voice broke.

  “Poor Lilly.” Inward glee. “It’s not your fault. You mustn’t think I hold you responsible for your sister’s actions.”

  Lilly might be no Rose—another great pun—he raised his mental champagne glass—but there could be no con without a mark and Lilly would do for his current purposes. Besides, she was more enthusiastic when it came to applying her yoga techniques to her lovemaking, and while both sisters knew their way around a man, Lilly was better at optimizing the use of her mouth. Both women were beautiful, each had her own appeal, and he didn’t care that much which Parker sister occupied his time.

  He heard himself sigh as he realized his self-deception. Against all reason, he preferred Rose—the woman who’d plotted his downfall, and shot him . . . not to mention kicked him in the chest. That’d hurt like hell on top of his already bruised ribs.

  Rose.

  “Dear sweet Lilly.” He eased down onto the couch. “I do not forgive Rose, but you, I must.”

  One eyebrow lifted. “Forgive me? For what? You chucked me for my sister, and now, thanks to you, she’s in terrible trouble. Don’t think I don’t know you must have done something to her. Rose wouldn’t swat a fly, even if it were already dead.”

  A tiny bit of gumption then, but only a portion of what Rose could muster. To him, looking at Lilly was like viewing a forgery of a Gauguin. The brushstrokes and color were there, but only the original possessed true magic. Rose was an original.

  He indicated that Lilly could sit next to him.

  She settled in slowly, as if she didn’t want to bounce the couch lest the movement cause him pain.

  “Apparently neither of us knows your sister as well as we thought. Because Rose is quite capable of mayhem of the worst sort. What part of she shot me and I almost drowned don’t you understand?”

  “The reason why part.”

  “Me either.” And that wasn’t a total lie. If she was planning to blackmail him or destroy his empire via SADIE, she hardly needed to shoot him, too. Either ruin his life or kill him—one or the other made sense, but really, he couldn’t see the reason for both. Yet Rose had brought a gun to their wedding. So she must’ve been planning to do away with him for a very long time. “I think she might be crazy.”

  “But she isn’t,” Lilly protested.

  “Are you sure? Look at the facts. She shot me not more than an hour after promising to love me forever, unless you’re going to try and tell me Anna did it . . . no . . . that would be even more proof that Rose is crazy.”

  “You know about Anna?” Lilly’s body went still. Like a clock with a dead battery, she suddenly just stopped ticking.

  “Rose explained the whole game to me. It was terrible of your father to use her like that. I think maybe she finally cracked.”

  Lilly started to breathe again. “It’s not what you think. Anna isn’t a split personality or anything. It’s just a game Papa taught us. I played it, too. Do you think I’m crazy?”

  Beside him her back was straight and stiff. Her body faced forward . . . but her knees angled toward him. He surmised she was torn between her loyalty to her sibling and her attraction to him. Time to tip the scales in his favor.

  “I think you’re anything but. I think you’re too good for me. That’s what you are.” He slid his hand into the space between them, inching his fingers toward hers.

  She made a little gulping sound as she took his hand and turned to fully face him.

  A beam of sunlight fell on her cheeks, highlighting the faintest tracks of her tears.

  He made direct, probing eye contact.

  Lilly loved him, still.

  He could see that clearly, but a squiggle of mistrust made his skin itch. Made him wonder if he should simply kill her now.

  Rose might be crazy, and a liar, but he believed her on one count.

  According to Rose, George Parker had a nice fat bank account, here in Tahiti, waiting for his daughters to claim it. Rose had promised to share the wealth with Tommy to feather their marital bed. But sweet, smitten Lilly had never once mentioned her inheritance to him.

  His eyes swept over her from head to toe. He didn’t like the fact she’d kept a secret from him.

  It wasn’t that he cared about the money.

  A million dollars—that was what was in the account—didn’t mean much to him.

  But loyalty was something he required in a wife.

  Both women had told him about their father’s line of work. And Tommy had considered that a plus. They’d loved their papa in spite of his transgressions, and they’d done his bidding all of their lives. Neither woman thought less of her father for his skirmishes with the law. So Tommy had had every reason to believe whichever Parker sister he chose would look the other way regarding his own business dealings, should she happen to stumble across something unsavory.

  Not that he’d planned on confiding his sins to them. His business schemes were on a much higher level than their father’s had been. Tommy wasn’t a two-bit con man, and he hardly needed a shill.

  What Tommy needed was a wife.

  A respectable piece of arm candy for the charity balls. A woman who enjoyed singing a hymn in church on Sunday, but who knew how to have a good time when the preacher wasn’t watching.

  Tommy had worked hard to build a respectable life, and he wanted the family he’d never had. He was human, after all. Even an independent man such as himself yearned to be the center of another person’s world.

  Rose’s childhood had been almost as chaotic as his. He’d thought she’d wanted a family, too.

  But it turned out Lilly was all the family Rose wanted.

  He squeezed Lilly’s hand and sidled closer until his thigh touched hers. Her face flushed prettily, and her lips parted.

  He had this in the bag.

  The only question was where did Lilly’s true loyalty lie?

  Lilly wasn’t good at deception in general, but she hadn’t been truthful about George Parker’s Tahitian bank account. And to Tommy that indicated Lilly made more of an effort when it came to keeping family secrets. So Lilly just might be lying to him about Rose. For all he knew she could’ve aided and abetted Rose’s escape from jail. She could be in contact with Rose right now.

  Which, come to think of it, wouldn’t be a bad thing.

  If Lilly could get in touch with Rose, that opened up an avenue of communication for Tommy.

  “Darling, your eyes.” With his fingers he gently grazed the corner of one, then trailed the side of his hand down her cheek, enjoying the way her bottom lip trembled at his touch.

  “Wh-what about my eyes?” she managed.

  “They’re scaring me.” He lifted her hand and pressed i
t to his lips. “You’ve never looked at me like this before.”

  She glanced away quickly. “I don’t know what you mean.”

  “As if you don’t trust me.”

  “I’m not sure how I can. After everything that’s happened.”

  “And it’s more than that. You look frightened of me.”

  She drew her lower lip between her teeth. “Don’t be ridiculous. You don’t scare me.”

  He rested his hands on her shoulders and slowly shook his head. “Believe me, Lilly. I’d never hurt you.”

  “You already have.” She sighed. “But I didn’t come here to talk about ancient history. That doesn’t matter to me anymore.”

  Oh yes it did. He could see the pitiful way hope was seeping in, brightening her eyes from cold jade to warm emerald.

  Too easy.

  And that was exactly the problem with Lilly.

  Where was her pride?

  Holding her gaze, he lowered his voice to its softest, deepest pitch. “I made a terrible mistake. I chose the wrong sister, Lilly. You’re absolutely right. It’s me who should apologize to you. Will you forgive me?”

  Her head snapped back, and he felt tension rising to her shoulders. “I’m truly sorry that Rose shot you. But I—I . . .”

  Lilly sometimes developed a slight stutter when she was rattled. It was one of her tells.

  “What I’m trying to say is I’m sorry Rose shot you if you did nothing to provoke her.” She pressed a hand to her forehead. “But I don’t know if you’re telling the truth.”

  “I did nothing to deserve this.”

  “Why would Rose hurt you? She wanted to marry you. Maybe you . . .”

  “What?”

  “I—I d-don’t know.” She brushed his hands off her shoulders. “Maybe you hit her.”

  “I’ve never hit a woman in my life.”

  “Never?”

  “Never.”

  “Then none of it makes sense. Where did the gun come from?”

  “My understanding,” he tried to make his voice comforting, “is that Rose had the gun on her. The police say there was a pouch sewn into the bodice of her wedding gown. I learned this only today.”

  Lilly’s hands started to shake. He clasped both of them between his palms. “I realize it’s hard to believe. Imagine how I feel, knowing she planned this months ago, when she was having the dress altered.”

  The look on her face might’ve softened him up in the past, but now he was immune to her innocence. He wanted to slap her for being so naïve.

  “But that’s premeditation. Rose would never . . .”

  “She did. But I promise you this can still turn out okay.”

  She sniffled into her sleeve. “Rose shot you. Things are never going to be okay again. When they find her, she’ll be arrested again. She could spend the rest of her life in prison.”

  He reached his arm around her, and when she didn’t protest, he pulled her into his body. “Thank goodness the bullet lost velocity. I’m not hurt—not badly anyway. I think I know a way out of this for Rose.”

  She burrowed her head into his shoulder. “I don’t understand.”

  He petted her hair. “I’m a man of influence, Lilly. I believe I can fix this whole thing up.”

  “Are you saying you’ll drop the charges against Rose?”

  “That’s not up to me. But I could encourage the police to drop the matter. Tell them I won’t testify against Rose. She’s my wife, and I don’t think they can make me. I’ll have to mull it over. For your sake, I want to make this go away, but I need to be sure Rose won’t try to hurt someone else.”

  A blank look came over Lilly’s face. “How would you do that?”

  He waited.

  “You mean you want to talk to her first?”

  “I’d have to. And there’s also the matter of your sister’s jailbreak, so even if I decide to turn the other cheek, Rose will probably have to answer for that.”

  Lilly looked up, big eyed. “Well, maybe that would be fair. If you get the police to forget the attempted murder charge and she’s only charged with breaking out of jail. I mean she should pay some price for all she’s put you through—but I do not want to see her go to prison for attempted murder.”

  He patted her head.

  All was well. Lilly wouldn’t mind letting Rose spend just a little time behind bars.

  A chink in the family armor.

  No matter how much Lilly loved Rose, she was definitely pissed at her.

  And she was still in love with him. So he could take at least some time to chart his course. He had procured all he needed to act on a moment’s notice, but there was simply no need to scramble around like a fool. As long as Lilly was under his spell he could take the time he needed.

  “Lilly, I don’t want to offend you. I realize I’m in no position to say this, but . . . I’ve missed you.”

  She buried her face into his shoulder again, and her tears seeped irritatingly through his shirt. “You’re married to my sister.”

  “But she shot me, and I’d say that gives me some wiggle room. So if you and I . . . if you still have feelings . . .”

  “I’m not talking about what you’d be doing to Rose. I’m talking about what you did to me. You broke my heart.”

  “I made a mistake.”

  Lilly didn’t have that hopeful look on her face any longer.

  He needed to turn this around and fast. “I realized, almost right away, that I had made the wrong decision. It became crystal clear that I was only attracted to Rose because of how much she reminded me of you.”

  “Apparently more than I reminded you of me.”

  “I’m just being honest, Lilly. And for the sake of full disclosure, I’ll own that I have something of a sexual appetite.” He didn’t look away. “Twins. The thrill of having you both was a lot to resist. But I should have. Unfortunately, by the time I fully understood the depth of my feelings for you, and that I’d made a horrible mistake, it was too late.”

  “How do you figure?”

  He dragged a hand across his face to hide his sneer. Groveling to a woman he didn’t respect was getting old quick. “I didn’t think you’d take me back.”

  “You were right.”

  He could handle it a little longer, if it meant getting control of Lilly back and thus being able to reel in Rose. He gave Lilly the plaintive, misunderstood eyes.

  She sighed.

  Waterworks again.

  “There, there. Go ahead and cry. Get it all out.” The shirt was already ruined, and her breasts pressing into his arm felt nice. He pulled her onto his lap, and she adjusted her bottom a few times.

  Just enough to give him a chubby.

  He slid his hand behind her and stroked the nape of her neck. “It’s okay, my darling. It’s going to be all right.”

  She gurgled some response, and he didn’t care that he couldn’t make out her words. They simply didn’t matter.

  Allowing his hand to drift to the front of her throat, he palmed her tracheal rings, then trailed his fingers into the soft cleft between her breasts. They were big, soft, and natural. God, these Parker girls had great bodies. Venturing lower he encountered a nipple and tweaked it until it was hard and hot, like him.

  She made that noise in her throat that women make when they can’t help themselves. When they can’t stop you from doing what you want because what you’re doing to them feels that good.

  He maneuvered her until she was straddling him, face to face.

  Lilly was so easy to manipulate.

  He started deflating quickly.

  Heaving out a big breath, he kissed the tip of her nose and lifted her off of him, but not without giving her a bit of a grind first. “We should stop,” he said. “I’m still married to Rose. And whether she deserves it or not, I know how devoted you are to her. If I led you into something today that you might regret tomorrow, just for my own pleasure, even if you forgave me, I could never forgive myself.”

 
; Lilly looked away, confused. “You’re right.” She leaned far away from him, as if he’d trapped her in a force field and she had to break free. “But I’m not leaving here until you promise me you’ll tell the police you won’t testify against Rose.”

  “I need to talk to her directly. I need her to promise me that she won’t come after either of us again. Not even if you and I . . .”

  Let Lilly fill in the blank.

  Dangling an unspoken promise of reconciliation was more powerful than words.

  “It’s impossible. No one knows where she is.”

  “Not even you?”

  She got up abruptly. “I don’t. But if she thinks it’s safe, I’ll be the first one she’ll call.”

  He was absolutely certain that was true.

  Lilly moved to the door, then turned and sent him a last look, her eyes still brimming with tears.

  “What is it, dear? How can I set your mind at ease?”

  She puffed out her cheeks. Glanced around the room. Put her hands in her pockets, pulled them out, and waved them in the air. “Tell me the truth, Tommy. Do you or don’t you know a woman named Pamela Jean?”

  Chapter 18

  Thursday

  Hôtel De Plage Dauphin

  Tahiti Nui

  “I’m Jacques Brousseau.” The inspector introduced himself to a woman who, to Caitlin’s eye, didn’t seem old enough to be Tommy Preston’s mother. Preston was thirty-six years old, and the woman Brousseau addressed didn’t appear a day over thirty-five. Factor in money, Botox, and fillers and Caitlin would put her at fifty, max.

  But there she lounged, at the Grotto bar, wearing, as advertised, a turquoise sarong and hanging onto a gold weave beach bag emblazoned with the words Preston Enterprises in raised red letters.

  After Caitlin and Spense had reported back to the inspector on their meeting with Lilly Parker, he’d hustled up a joint interview at the hotel bar with Tommy and his mother. Caitlin scanned the area, but didn’t see Tommy. Hopefully he wouldn’t be a no show, because she was eager to see his reaction when they dropped the name Pamela Jean. Another quick glance around, and she turned her attention to those people actually present.