Arnoff’s eyes flickered like a wild animal in the oily kerosene light. The second the man tried to rush past him, Carter hit him in his windpipe with a hard thwack. Arnoff sputtered and choked, trying to regain his breath.
That wasn’t going to happen on Carter’s watch. He picked Arnoff up by the neck and held him against the wall, legs dangling.
“Get. Out.”
Arnoff’s eyes bugged out. He spluttered and attempted to fight back.
“Not convinced? Fine, I can do this my way. Looking forward to it, actually.”
Carter dragged him up the stairs, then through the main hallway and foyer. He opened the front door of the hotel, clutching the man’s throat.
“Don’t come back. And don’t even think about Ellie. If you come sniffing around at tomorrow’s auction, I’ll finish this.”
With a violent thrust he flung Arnoff between the front porch pillars. The man landed on his side on the steps, rolled a few feet and crouched in the fetal position, rocking, whimpering. Then all was silent.
Carter returned inside and kicked the door shut. Then he made sure the entrance’s lock and deadbolt were secure before he walked away.
Inhaling rapid breaths he filed his hands through his hair. He wanted to see blood dripping from the man’s pores. But there had been enough bloodshed tonight.
Russert emerged from the dark hallway. “Is he gone?” he wheezed, holding the side of his head where a trickle of red ran down his temple.
Carter nodded. “If he wants to live past tomorrow, he won’t come back.”
Concern flooded Russert’s expression. “Is Ellie okay? I feel terrible she was left alone to fend for herself.”
Ellie . “Man, I hope so. She’s asleep in my room. I’ll make sure she’s safe. You have my word.”
When Russert nodded, Carter raced back to his room. Outside his door he paused to collect himself. Then he entered quietly hoping not to disturb her.
The bedside lamp shed soft light over her sleeping form. She looked so beautiful, so fragile. He ached to hold her.
When he took a step toward her the floor creaked. Ellie shot up in bed wild-eyed. She threw off the sheets and darted from the mattress in flight mode. “Don’t come near me,” she screeched.
“Ellie, it’s me. Carter.”
The words took a moment to register. Still her eyes were wide, fear-filled. “Is he here?”
“No, baby. I took care of him. He won’t come near you ever again.”
Her shoulders slumped, arms dangling at her sides. “I can’t believe what happened. I didn’t know he was capable of...”
“Neither did I, but it’s over now.”
She began to tremble. “I should’ve been more cautious. Why did I think I could handle him?”
“Hey, stop right there.” He moved toward her with measured strides and embraced her, concerned how cold her skin felt. “His attack is not your fault.”
“But if I’d listened to my instincts—”
“You did nothing wrong. So get that out of your head right now.” He cupped her face tilting her chin up until she met his gaze. “Arnoff is the problem, not you. Do you hear me?”
Her eyes welled with tears. “Then, why?”
“Ellie, honey,” he whispered, pressing his lips to her forehead. “Let it go. If you keeping questioning it, you’ll replay the night over and over in your mind. There is no excuse for his attack. That’s all you need to know.”
The tears overflowed. She started shaking all over. “What could erase that memory?”
Carter grazed his lips over hers. Soft, tender passes meant to soothe. “You’re so beautiful. So strong, Ellie. You amaze me.” He kept his kisses light coaxing her gently back into a sense of security, reestablishing trust.
She parted her lips for him. His tongue glided against hers. She released a trembling sigh.
“I’ll always protect you, sweetheart.”
She melted into his embrace.
Arms securely around her, Carter continued to whisper words of comfort. “Hear the ocean? The tide is steady, peaceful, flowing in and out…”
“I love that sound.” She curved her arms around his neck and whispered, “I love you, Carter.”
Nodding, he hugged her tightly. Whether the admission was the result of her trauma or if she truly meant the words, all he knew was the sudden sense of belonging wrapping around him in this moment.
He belonged with her. She belonged with him.
The sweetest yearning filled her voice as she whispered, “Make love to me.”
Carter shook his head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“I want to feel better, the way I feel when you hold me, when you’re inside me. It’s so right, so perfect.”
“I’ll hold you. All night long. I’m not going anywhere.” Carter wrapped her in his arms, bringing her close, closer than he’d been with any woman. He let everything drift away—his hatred of the man who attacked her, his apprehension over whether his finances would come through by tomorrow, his ideas about the future that seemed to shift before his eyes. “Go to sleep, Ellie.”
She nodded against his shoulder, resting her arm across his chest as he cradled her in bed. Eventually her breathing deepened. Her breasts rose and fell evenly against him as she succumbed to sleep.
Everything seemed so right in this moment. This was what he’d searched for since he left El Dorado. It had been waiting here for him all along.
Carter tucked a hand behind his head and stared up at the ceiling. He couldn’t make his heart of stone agree with his one-track mind anymore. Neither was cooperating with his original plans. His body was the most traitorous of all. Physically, he wanted this woman with a craving beyond logic, beyond obsession.
He needed Ellie. Plain and simple. Denial was a wasted fight.
Everything had turned out completely different from what he’d intended. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. It wasn’t supposed to feel this good, this right.
I love you, Carter .
The echo of her words twisted him up inside, wrenching in their beauty and sincerity. Despite his original pursuit somewhere along the way he’d earned her trust.
She’d given him her body, and now her heart. The most precious gift she had to offer—especially to him, considering their past and present.
And he didn’t even have to take it from her. She gave all of herself willingly, freely.
Unlike him, with his demands and ultimatums. Guilt clawed through his gut until he felt raw with anguish.
The idea of keeping her as his mistress disgusted him now, and insulted the powerful bond that they’d re-forged. Revenge hung like a faded, tattered flag, unrecognizable compared to the bright beacon it had been, symbolizing his ultimate conquest. His initial impetus was a shallow, malicious pursuit.
Carter was above that. And so was Ellie.
“Damn, sweetheart. What have you done to me?”
Moving to lie on his side, he stroked her hair, her soft tresses slipping through his fingers. His mind filled with the ramifications of pursuing a real relationship with Ellie.
She wouldn’t leave the island—that much he knew. But his life existed in the states, traveling for weeks or months at a time, researching and investigating new properties. His workload would more than double now that he’d resumed authority over all his assets again. He had hundreds of employees who counted on him. There was no way he could run a business from here, with spotty Internet access and unreliable cell phone service.
Honestly, he couldn’t see how it would work between them.
But there was something he needed to do. Right now.
He needed to give Ellie her choice and her freedom back. He reached toward his nightstand and found his phone.
He called Neville. “Hey, got a minute?” he whispered, not wanting Ellie wake up, or to know what he was about to do.
Neville said in a groggy voice, “Do you know what time it is?”
“No id
ea. Listen, I’ve changed my mind.”
Neville sighed wearily. “For God’s sake, what now?”
“The two-million we liquidated? I want to buy the entire collection Ellie put up for auction.”
Neville coughed. “You’re going to pay two-million dollars for some booze? Now I know you’ve lost your mind.”
Reaching out to stroke Ellie’s cheek, he said, “Love does that to you.”
“Sorry, I think I misheard. Did you actually say the word love ?”
“Don’t give me grief. Just wire the money to the account you set up for her. Tell her it was an anonymous buyer.”
“What about the Montgomery Hotel?”
Carter shrugged. “I have other things to concentrate on.”
“Now you’re finally making sense.”
Rolling his eyes Carter informed him, “I’m leaving tomorrow night for Miami. I plan to get my money back from these thugs who ruined the Pierce project. I’ll let you know my plans from there.”
“Will your lady be joining you?”
A lengthy pause followed the question. Carter answered honestly, “I don’t know.”
They hammered out a few details, then Carter hung up so Neville could get a decent night’s sleep. One of them should. It wouldn’t be Carter.
He slid back under the covers beside Ellie. She snuggled up beside him. “I’m doing right by you, Ellie.” A warm glow surrounded his heart. “You’ll be free to choose the life you want.”
She mumbled an unintelligible response, caught in the throes of a dream that touched a smile to her lips. He kissed her gently.
Smoothing a hand along her spine as she snuggled close to him, Carter felt his chest tighten with uncertainty. Would she choose to start a life with him in Miami, giving up the hotel she’d soon have the funds to support? Or would she remain on the island, like she had twelve years ago, and give up a second chance at this?
Although it plagued him to admit it, they’d never last as a long-distance couple. After everything they’d shared and had been through, there was no way either of them would be happy with half a relationship, dropping in and out of each other’s lives at random. They would both have to make serious sacrifices to make it work.
It had to be all or nothing.
From where he stood, neither one of them seemed to be in at a point in their lives where they could simply change course midway. And if they parted again, no matter how cordial, there’d be no going back. This was their chance to reclaim the love they’d lost, the kind of passion that would last forever, but their troubled past still haunted them.
Would a second chance be enough for her to leave everything she wanted behind, in order to have him?
With a bleak sigh, Carter believed he knew the answer. He held Ellie tight, knowing it could be for the last time.
Chapter 11
“Ellie, wake up.”
Lost in hazy dreams of sunlight, footprints side-by-side on the beach, while her shadow mingled with Carter’s and spread out before them into the future, Ellie was unwilling to break from the heartwarming fantasy. “No,” she mumbled.
She felt a nudge. “I need you to wake up.”
Pleasing pressure stroked her lips, a loving touch filled with meaning and emotion. But the lips pulled away from hers. When she looked across the beach in her dream, Carter had disappeared.
“Sweetheart, I have to leave now.”
The sun went behind the clouds. Then blackness stretched across the horizon. The water turned dark, churning. Lightening streaked across the sky.
Suddenly she was floating in the middle of the ocean, the island far away, the mainland equally as distant. Rain beat down like a thousand needles pounding her skin. Waves crashed over her. She strove to stay abreast, but the storm was too strong. The currents pulled her under.
Somehow she could breathe underwater but she couldn’t float, couldn’t swim, as if an anchor was strapped to her legs. A distant pool of light appeared above her. Carter’s face reflected in the waves. His hand plunged into the depths reaching toward her. She strained to meet him, to touch his fingertips.
Carter! Don’t let me go... Still, she sank further and further, until the vision of him was swallowed by darkness.
“No!”
Ellie sat up in bed, gasping. The sheets were tangled around her legs. She kicked them off as if they possessed the power to restrain her.
The room was quiet, still, as she glanced around trying to gain her bearings. In the near-distance, waves crashed powerfully against the beaches. Rain pelted the rooftop and blurred the windows, while trees thrashed in the wind.
The clock on the bedside table blinked 10:10.
The power must’ve gone out .
The scent of aftershave hung in the air. Two navy suitcases with gold trim were stacked by the door. Carter’s room .
Where was Carter?
Ellie dragged herself out of bed. A second later she nearly collapsed, before she forced herself to sit on the edge of the mattress. Her legs were stiff. Her head ached behind her eyes, and her body throbbed painfully.
Shaking, she held her hands out in front of her and noted two torn fingernails, a gouge on her palm, and scratches on her arms.
Visions flashed of the night before. The library. Poe’s book on the table. The scent of cherry tobacco. Light shining in the secret room. Empty bottles. Arnoff Applestone. Struggling on the ground beneath him. Fighting him. Tasting the filthy sweat of his hand over her mouth. Pleading for help. Finally, the burst of power from within, knocking her attacker away, running...to Carter.
Her breathing came in shuddering spurts as though she’d endured Arnoff’s attack all over again.
Then the smell of Carter’s cologne seeped into her senses. A protective essence curled around her. He’d been there for her, sheltering her and holding her tight.
I love you, Carter .
“Oh, no.” Ellie rubbed her eyes. What had prompted her to admit that? The only answer came from a place deep in the center of her chest, a strong and sure pulse that made the words ring true. “Oh, my God. I love him.” Panic flooded her. “This is not good. So not good.”
How would she remain detached now, if he bought the hotel and kept true to his plans? In that future, she’d spend her days wondering where he was, what he was doing and with whom, while he “kept” her there. She’d be stuck on the island, trapped in a future of his making and her agreement. She’d be his lover when he returned, doomed to heartbreak when he left.
“I can’t live like that.”
Prepared to find another way, even if it meant scrubbing toilets at the vacation mansions on the island, she’d do whatever it took. Because of all the subtle, and not so subtle, warnings she’d received in the past twenty-four hours, she believed the curse would never allow her to leave the island.
One thing she knew for certain. She refused to love a man who regarded her as his possession. She wanted Carter’s devotion, his whole heart, or nothing at all.
Looking at the clock again, it blinked 10:12. If the power went out last night, there was no telling what time it was.
Russert’s words suddenly echoed in her mind. The auction has been moved up to ten o’clock .
“Crap!”
Scrambling to her feet, Ellie ignored the aches in her body, threw on one of Carter’s shirts and ran down the hall to her room. She checked the clock and exhaled relief. It was nine-thirty. A hot shower felt good on her cuts and bruises, but she couldn’t linger. Cold air caught her breath as she stepped out of the steam. She threw her damp hair up in a twist, pulled on a black turtleneck to hide her scrapes, a black wool jacket on top of that, a pair of white pants, black ballet flats, and she was out the door.
Despite her hurry to get to the auction, part of her feared running into Arnoff. Her stomach twisted in knots, but she forced herself continue to the conference room.
When she entered the main common area, Matilda looked up from some notes on the front desk. “Ellie
, I’ve been looking all over for you. I have the most wonderful news!”
Ellie paused. “Is everything okay?”
Matilda stammered, “Ok-Okay? It’s more than okay , it’s a miracle!”
“What happened?”
Waving a piece of paper in front of her, Matilda rattled on. “I took the call early this morning. The cases of wine and rum sold at auction. Your broker, Neville, left the message with me.”
Elation and apprehension tangled inside Ellie. She worried the value wouldn’t be enough. “How much did it go for?”
“Two million!” Matilda shrieked.
Ellie felt light-headed. “What?”
“It’s true! He faxed over the contract details. Here, look.”
Dazed, Ellie scanned the document Matilda handed her. “The buyer is anonymous,” she read aloud, somewhat saddened she couldn’t thank the person for his or her timely generosity. Although, she noted the money was wired from a business called Beachfront Properties, Inc. She read further. “It says the funds have already been transferred to my account. Oh, my God.” She stared at Matilda. “ Oh, my God! ”
They squealed and hugged each other. “This means you can save the hotel,” Matilda said with a triumphant smile.
“This is crazy,” Ellie laughed. “Now I have the money to cover all my debts and loans and taxes—and refurbish the hotel. This is a miracle.”
Matilda nodded. “In the eleventh hour.”
Ellie checked her watch. “Speaking of the eleventh hour, I need to get to the conference room before the auction starts.”
“You have seven minutes. Run for it, Ellie.” Matilda grinned and nudged her forward.
After hugging the woman once more, Ellie raced down the hall. Her nerves rattled around inside her. She couldn’t wait to share the news. But she paused outside the door, wondering who—or what—awaited her inside. Would Arnoff be there? Was she too late to halt the auction?
The handle grew warm and slick in her palm. Better late than never.
Squaring her shoulders, she pulled open the door and stepped inside. She walked into a wall of noise. A blast of shouting was followed by heated arguing. Accusations flung around the room.
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