by Desiree Holt
“You mean, as in gone?”
“Uh-huh. Someone thought they’d seen her about a week before the fire, but they weren’t sure.” He shifted so he was leaning on one elbow, looking at Lindsey. “And that’s another wrinkle. Something’s not right there, either.”
“What?” Lindsey sat up abruptly. “What do you mean?”
“From what we can tell, the Littmans took their million bucks and tried to set up a new life. Guardian managed to track Mrs. Littman through the domestic agency that sent her to the Dolmans. The agency knew about the husband because he was part of the package she presented, but they were pretty sure the two of them never had any children. Yet, all of a sudden, they showed up in this little town in the middle of nowhere with a daughter. I think that daughter is the key, somehow.”
“But how will we find her?” Lindsey worried her bottom lip. “If Guardian can’t find her, probably no one can.”
“We have a lot of resources at our disposal, Lindsey. It’ll happen, believe me. If she’s alive anywhere, my staff will find her. And tomorrow, Reno will call us from Boston with a report on his visit there.”
“I can’t just sit around and wait,” she told him. “I’m too antsy.”
He nodded. “I understand, but at the moment, we don’t have much choice. Let’s fix something to eat, and tomorrow, we can hang out at that little convenience store and see if we can pick up any old gossip.”
They cleaned up silently after dinner and went to their rooms early. Alone in her bed, Lindsey slept fitfully, afraid to let herself go and become prey to the dream. And she was still bothered by the situation with Nick. Her head and her heart didn’t quite seem to be in agreement. And her body ached for his. But she wasn’t about to let herself in for another round of heartbreak.
When she woke in the morning, she was anything but rested.
****
Nick was up shortly after dawn, his sleep disturbed by dreams of Lindsey and the uneasy feeling that something was going on with her she didn’t intend to share with him. He had lain awake a long time the night before, going over in his mind almost every minute of every day and night since he’d first walked into her office. He replayed conversations, actions, even their lovemaking until it made him so hard it was almost painful.
He supposed Quinn could have called and warned her about him again, but that wasn’t exactly Quinn’s style. He’d have called Nick first, checked what was going on, and made it known Lindsey was completely off limits. And he hadn’t done that.
So what was the problem?
He wanted this woman in ways he’d never wanted another in his life. He wanted to make love with her, laugh with her, grow old with her. The baby thing didn’t bother him at all. He knew people who’d adopted kids very successfully.
He could feel the edges of the case coming together. And after they did, he and Lindsey Ferrell were going to sit down and have a long talk. Meanwhile, he needed a pot of strong coffee to get him through the day. He broke the uneasy silence at breakfast by telling Lindsey stories of growing up and his fights with his sisters and brothers.
“I really envy you a large noisy family,” she said, a wistful note in her voice. “Maybe when we find the answers to this puzzle, I’ll turn out to have relatives, too.”
“That would be nice. Families are great. And I’m really close to mine.”
“I know.” She sighed. “Well, whatever happens, happens. I just hope some of it turns out to be good.”
After they cleaned up the kitchen, they drove around the island, checking the Ormond house again in case someone had shown up since yesterday. Eventually, they landed at the little convenience store. Lindsey browsed aisles tightly packed with every kind of merchandise while Nick chatted with the owner and his wife.
The couple was in their sixties and had lived on Indian Island all their lives. Even more important, when Nick worked the conversation around to the drowning as casually as he could, they remembered the tragedy vividly. They were happy, with little prodding, to recount what they knew.
“That storm did it,” the man said. “I never knew why they went out on the water with the weather closing in. No one did. They were experienced sailors, so I guess young Dolman just thought he could beat it to shore in plenty of time.” He shook his head. “They were getting ready to go home to Boston for the winter. I guess they just wanted one more sail before they left.”
“Everyone was so upset about it,” his wife added. “They were such nice young people, with everything going for them.”
“What about their families?” Nick asked. “Are any of them still around here?”
“Oh, no.” She twisted her lips in dismay. “Their parents were just destroyed with grief. Those two grandmothers were close friends. They hung onto each other, waiting for the rescue boats to come in, crying like I’d never seen. What a mess.”
“The marine patrol dived for three days,” the old man continued. “When they didn’t find anything, the parents hired a private crew and kept them looking for a long time. They didn’t find anything, either.”
“After a while everyone just gave up,” the woman sighed. “They sold them big houses and left the island. Don’t think any of them have been back since. Couldn’t bear to see the spot again, I guess.”
“They had a couple working for them, didn’t they?” Nick arranged his features in an innocent expression. “I heard one of them looked after the children.”
The old man gave a bitter chuckle. “That little girl was a handful, that’s for sure. No one could stand to be around her. I don’t know how that nanny ever put up with her. Lordy. When she had a temper tantrum, you could hear her clean to Boston. Scream and carry on like the devil himself was after her.”
“One time when she was in the store,” his wife put in, “we had to ask them to take her out. Her poor daddy was trying to buy her some candy, and she was kicking everything in sight. It’s a wonder she didn’t break up the whole store. I sure did feel sorry for them.”
“Do you think anyone else around here might remember what happened to that older couple?” Nick asked.
“Don’t think so. They wasn’t real friendly to begin with. And when this all happened, they didn’t even stay around for the search. Just packed their things and up and left.”
“Thank you for your time,” Nick told them and urged Lindsey out to their vehicle.
“Why are we leaving?” she asked. “We don’t have all our answers.”
“I think I got everything from them we can. Let’s go back to the cottage and see what we can piece together from what they said. And how it fits in with everything else we found out.”
Once inside, Nick stoked up the fire until it produced a nice blaze. Then, determined to see if he could breach that barrier Lindsey had erected, he pulled the big soda cushions in front of the fire. He lay down with his head on one and patted the other.
“Come get warm.” He smiled. “It’s cold outside, and I’m lonely.”
He watched conflicting emotions chase themselves across her face, her teeth worrying her bottom lip.
“Come on, Linds,” he urged. “Just a little relaxation and conversation.”
When she finally lay down beside him, he waited a few moments before taking her hand. He held it like that, listening to the flames crackle, until he felt her body relax a little. Then, slowly, he brought her hand to his lips and pressed a kiss on it. When he traced her knuckles with his tongue, she tried to pull away, but he tightened his hold, kept teasing with his tongue and in a moment she relaxed again.
So far so good.
He went slowly, taking his time, not wanting to spook her. But moments later, he rolled to his side and brushed light kisses over her lips, her jaw, and her neck. She jerked her head away and moved as if to get up, but he pulled her back.
“Just a kiss, Lindsey. Today has been tough for you. Let me help you relax.”
Whatever battle she was waging with herself, she apparently needed to tr
y and forget it for a while because her body relaxed and she accepted his kisses again. He paid careful attention to every inch of her mouth, then nuzzled that sensitive place behind her ear. A little moan drifted from her.
Okay, a little further now.
Before long, he slipped his hand beneath her sweater, smoothing it across her abdomen and sliding up to cup one breast. At the same time, he blew in her ear and nibbled on the lobe. He knew exactly what turned her on.
She tensed beneath his touch, resistance stiffening her, but then he inched his hand beneath the waistband of her slacks, all the time kissing her, nibbling and licking. She hadn’t pushed him away yet so he pushed his luck.
He took his time, stroking and licking and touching all those places he’d learned aroused her and turned her on. He knew the moment he had her, when his fingers slid between the wet lips of her sex, over her clit, and down toward her opening. She made a token resistance, but he knew just how to stroke and touch, how to use his fingers in all her most sensitive places.
When he went to work on her clit, she moaned and opened her legs for him. He slid his mouth over to hers, brushing her lips with his before sliding his tongue into her mouth and tasting her everywhere. He never took his hand from between her legs, knowing just how to touch and tease, feeling her growing more liquid, hotter, ready for him.
He chanced removing his hand but only for the time it took to rid her of her slacks and panties. Then he went at her in earnest. He didn’t care if he came or not, just that he gave Lindsey an incredible orgasm and that she understood it happened only with him. He kissed her until neither of them could breathe anymore, sucking her tongue and scraping it with his teeth, all the while rubbing and stroking her clit.
When she was close to the edge, he knelt between her thighs and stroked every inch of her sex with his tongue. He squeezed the cheeks of her buttocks and traced the damp tip of his finger around her rear opening. Everything seemed to drive her higher toward a climb.
The release, when it came, shook every inch of her body and every muscle clenched and spasmed. Just as she came, he slid three fingers inside her and felt her inner muscles clench hard around them. She shuddered over and over again, slamming her thighs together around his arm, trapping his hand inside her. When the last little shiver died away, he slid his fingers from her and, making sure she watched, licked each of them clean.
“Better than anything I’ve ever tasted.” He transferred her taste to her lips with his tongue.
“Listen, Nick,” she began.
He touched his fingers to her lips. “Don’t say it, whatever it is. Just relax in the pleasure of it.”
“You didn’t—”
He shook his head. “This wasn’t for me. I wanted to take the edge off for you. I—”
At that moment, his phone rang.
Lindsey tensed as he rolled over to answer it and listened without saying a word. When he disconnected the call, she sat up beside him.
“What was that about? I know it’s something. And probably bad, right?”
“Maybe, maybe not.” He stood up and reached out a hand to her, which she took with some reluctance. “Let’s make some coffee, and I’ll tell you. But first, I need some information from you.”
The coffee didn’t take long to brew, and they carried mugs of it to the kitchen table.
“Tell me,” she demanded. “Right now.”
“All right.” He took a sip of the hot liquid. “Lindsey, who is Judge Harold Webster? Do you know him? Or of him?”
“Why are you asking?” She pushed her glasses up on her nose. “Harold Webster was a very old friend of my father’s. He’s dead now, but I have faint memories of him from when I was a kid. My folks apparently knew him from…someplace.” She frowned. “Funny, I don’t recall how they knew him. I don’t think either of them ever said. He’s the only person I remember coming to visit them, and that only happened a few times. Why?”
“He’s also the man who inherited the balance of your parents’ estate, about five million dollars.”
Her pulse ratcheted up, pounding everywhere in her body. Could this be the breakthrough they’d been hunting for? “How on earth did Reno get him to give up that information?”
“As your parents’ sole heir you have certain rights. Quinn, who has your power of attorney, has the authority to act on your behalf. He’s the one who convinced the law firm to have a confidential conversation with Reno.”
“And?” she prodded.
“After some complicated financial maneuvers, the money eventually ended up in the bank in Cibolo.”
Lindsey couldn’t breathe.
“Lindsey?” Nick’s look was intense. “Do you understand what I’m saying?”
“I can’t believe it. Any of it. It’s just so unbelievable.” She made herself sip some of the coffee to moisten her dry mouth, her hands holding the mug trembling slightly. “What is it all about, Nick?”
When Nick reached for her hand, she jerked it away. She didn’t want him to touch her, not now.
“As far as we can figure, it appears when your folks came to Cibolo, the judge turned the money back over to them. Your dad bought the ranch and breeding stock with cash and invested the rest of the money very, very well.”
She freed her hands from his and wrapped them around her coffee mug, clutching it with a death grip. “This is so unbelievable.”
Nick nodded. “Yes, it is. Anyway, the judge was also the one who recommended Ruben and Mary. They were newlyweds then, and somehow he knew of them. And you know that’s worked out great.” He shifted in the chair and leaned forward. “But there’s still a big gap between the supposed drowning and the appearance of your parents in Cibolo.
“Like, where are my brother and sister?” she asked. “Are they alive somewhere? If my parents moved to Cibolo, why didn’t they take the other children with them? What the hell happened all those years ago? Nick, I think I’m more afraid now than I was when we stated this.”
“We need to go back to the ranch so you can sit down with Ruben and force him to tell you what he knows. My guess is it’s a lot. I think he knows the whole story.”
“I feel like this is happening to someone else.” She ran the tip of one finger around and around the rim of her mug, as if an answer would rub off on her.
Nick got up to pour more coffee. “I’ve been in this business a long time, and I’d bet the farm this whole situation with the stalker will all boil down somehow to money. It usually does.”
“Nick, if my parents owed money to someone, I’d be happy to pay them. But who would they owe? Especially if they had so much?”
“I think we’ll find out it’s a little more complicated than that,” he told her. “I asked Reno to beep our pilot and tell him to be ready for takeoff about noon tomorrow. We’ll pick up Reno on the way back. Then we’ll go directly to the ranch and try to bring this to a head.”
Lindsey scanned his face, trying to read his eyes. “You already have a pretty good idea who we’re looking for, don’t you?”
He nodded. “But it’s only an idea.”
“Then tell me,” she cried. “I have a right to know.”
“From what Reno has been able to learn, we think the Littmans received a large sum because they took your sister, Barbara Jean, with them. The money was to assure her care and—”
“And what?”
“Keep her away from you.”
“What?” Lindsey nearly choke on the word.
“Lindsey, we’re gathering the final proof to show you, but it seems Barbara Jean had a nasty vicious temper and liked to hurt animals and people. She wanted to be the center of attention and hurt anyone who stole that from her.”
“Like my brother, who seems to have disappeared?”
“Like him. And you. Your parents wanted her gone before you were born.” He blew out a breath. “You won’t like this, either, but Reno traced her to San Antonio.”
Her heart almost stopped. “So you think
she’s the one who…”
“I do.” He nodded. “He’s got people on her case, looking for her. So let’s just get through tonight, and tomorrow, we’ll head for home. I think by then we’ll be able to find all our answers.”
“Won’t you even give me a hint?” she pleaded. “It’s my life, you know.”
“And I plan to take damn good care of it.” His voice had a dangerous edge to it. “So please don’t give me a hard time, okay?”
“Nick.” She wet her lips. “What happened before—”
“Was good,” he finished. “Don’t lie and tell me it wasn’t. Lindsey, I don’t know what happened to make you retreat behind that wall again, but I’m not giving up. And you can take that to the bank. Just as soon as we have your stalker put away, you and I are going to have a long talk.”
She swallowed the rest of her objections and nodded her agreement. “I just wish it was over now.”
“Amen to that.”
Did he mean he was glad because now he could walk away from her with a clear conscience? That he’d done his job, and he could go back to his other life?
I can handle it. I’m strong. He’ll never know how I feel.
****
Lindsey spent the rest of the afternoon curled up on the sun porch, staring out at the water and trying to sort out the jumble her well-ordered life had become. Nick pretty much left her alone except to bring her tea twice and ask if she needed anything. She was grateful for the space he gave her, on a number of levels.
At six, he made soup and sandwiches and coaxed her to the table. They were still sitting there when Lindsey’s new cell phone rang. She looked up at Nick.
“Who could this be? No one has the number but the Medanas and my office, and I already checked in with them earlier. Besides, it’s a text ring and none of them like to text.”
“Look at it,” he ordered, “but be prepared for anything.”
She tapped the Message icon and waited for the text to appear. When it did, her heart nearly stopped beating.
I found you, bitch. Now you’re dead.
She stared at the message, afraid for a moment she would faint. Panic gripped her, and she looked wildly around, as if the person was standing right there.
