No Holds Barred

by Cara Summers

  “Stay down.” It was Duncan’s voice.

  She was perfectly happy to obey the order. Her head ached. Every bone in her body ached.

  “I’ll take care of Lightman.” Daryl’s voice now. She saw two shadows rush out of the tunnel. “You see to Piper.”

  Aiming his flashlight at her, Duncan dropped to his knees. “You’re bleeding. Did he shoot you?”

  “I’m fine.” She touched her forehead gingerly and felt the blood. “I did that to myself. I had to make it look good when I fell.”

  She had, Duncan thought. Too good. He’d heard her head connect with that boulder. He used the flashlight to check her eyes, but the pupils weren’t dilated.

  “Lightman isn’t shot, either,” Daryl said. “Looks like she knocked him out cold with a rock.”

  The relief that rushed through Duncan erupted in a laugh as he sat down beside her and scooped her onto his lap. “I don’t know why I was worried about you.” Then he lowered his mouth to hers and, trembling, he found everything. Everything.

  “If you two want to come up for air for a minute,” Daryl said, “I’ve got some more good news.”

  “What?” Duncan raised his head, but he didn’t loosen his hold on Piper.

  “Lightman has some interesting items in his backpack—a white sheet, several plastic bags filled with rose petals. I’d say this stuff, along with what I recorded from the wire on Piper, should be enough to send him away for a very long time.”

  “Are his reading glasses in there?” Piper asked.

  “They are,” Daryl said.

  “They’re going to connect him to at least one other RPK victim.” Then she told them what she’d discovered in the file. “They have to be in an evidence bag somewhere, and they may have his prints on them. I’ll bet he doesn’t even remember he left them behind. And you may even be able to trace his purchases. Those are expensive designer frames.”

  Daryl glanced over at her. “You sure you want to practice law? I could use someone with your eye for detail in my office.”

  “The FBI could use her, too,” Duncan said.

  “I can’t get a signal on my cell,” Daryl said. “How far is it to the outside of this place?”

  “Fifteen feet or so through that tunnel,” Duncan said.

  “I’ll let Sheriff Skinner and Vi know that we’re all safe and sound, and I’ll check on Ms. Lewis.”

  For a few minutes after he was gone, Piper stayed right where she was with her head pressed into Duncan’s shoulder. Just a few more minutes, she told herself. She’d be fine in just a few more minutes.

  “It’s my fault,” Duncan said. “I convinced you to come up here. And I brought her around to the library.”

  She raised her head and looked him straight in the eye. “Enough. Stop that right now. I agreed to come up here, and I’m the one who broke the rules by rushing out to tell you about my discovery in the files. There’s enough blame to go around. And I’m really, really tired of dealing with irrational people today. Those two were total fruitcakes. What I need more than anything else is for you to kiss me again.”

  When he tightened his arms around her and lowered his mouth to hers, she poured herself into the kiss. He was here holding her, and she felt her fears drain. She’d needed this. And she needed more. So much more. She wanted…

  Daryl cleared his throat when he reentered the cave. When Duncan broke off the kiss, he said, “I’ve got Deanna Lewis secured. She took quite a blow on the head. Skinner’s notifying the trauma center in Albany. He’s already called in the state police. They’re on their way to the cliff face right now.”

  Duncan helped Piper get to her feet. “I have to call my boss. She’ll probably want someone from the FBI office in Albany to take Lightman into custody. Can you make it out to the ledge?”

  “Sure.” Every bone in her body ached when she got to her feet. The adrenaline rush was over. But Patrick Lightman was trussed up like a turkey, and she and the people she loved were fine.

  15

  THE LATE-AFTERNOON SUN SLANTED long shadows over the patio at the back of the kitchen as Duncan put steaks on the grill. He felt as though the day was never going to end. He’d wanted to talk to Piper alone, but one thing after another had interfered, the latest being a celebration dinner that Vi had insisted on. Sheriff Skinner had been invited to stay, and then the men had been assigned to grill duty while the women made salad.

  Daryl stepped out of the kitchen with three beers. “The ladies are chilling champagne, but I told Vi we’d start off with these.”

  Sheriff Skinner took one of the offered bottles. “I propose a toast to a job well done.”

  Duncan took one of the bottles and raised it. “It’s not over yet.” His eyes strayed to Piper inside the kitchen. She was tearing lettuce into a bowl. And for a moment he felt the same thing he’d felt when he’d slipped uninvited into her bedroom last night—just an inkling of what it might be like to see her do that ordinary task again and again.

  “You’re referring to the fact that Deanna Lewis wasn’t working alone,” Skinner said.

  “We listened to her say ‘we’ and ‘us’ several times while we were crawling through those tunnels,” Daryl said. “And Lightman overhead her making a phone call to someone telling them that she planned to eliminate Piper.”

  “I think Russell Arbogast is in the clear,” Skinner said. “His credentials seem genuine, and he claims he knew nothing about Deanna Lewis’s reasons for taking on the job of photographing the castle. But he says she was the one who pitched the idea to him, and the portfolio she showed him of her freelance work was impressive. Her résumé checked out.”

  “When Arbogast first approached Adair and Vi, I ran a thorough background check on him,” Daryl said. “I should have dug deeper on Deanna Lewis, but my impression was the same as Arbogast’s. There was nothing there to raise any alarm. I have someone working on her now.”

  A hissing noise from the grill made Duncan glance back at his steaks. “Whoever Deanna was referring to and talking to on her cell has to be connected to both her and the sapphires. She told Piper that they were given to their family, and that Eleanor stole them. I’ve called Cam. He and Adair, along with A.D. and my mother, have been visiting the Campbell estate. It may be that Deanna Lewis is a descendent of the Campbell family, or she may believe she is. The story that’s been passed down is that Angus stole his bride.”

  “So, some descendent of the Campbell family might believe that she had no right to the dowry and therefore stole them?” Skinner asked.

  “That’s one theory.” Duncan sipped his beer. “Cam’s going to see what he can find out. Deanna also claimed that the sapphires weren’t Eleanor’s dowry. If not, how did she come into possession of them? My mom is already trying to trace how the jewels made their way from Mary Stuart’s coronation to Eleanor Campbell MacPherson.”

  “In the meantime, the state police are tracing the calls on Lewis’s phone, and the trauma center will let you know the moment she regains consciousness,” Skinner said. “The bad news is that due to the severity of her injury, that may not happen anytime soon. She’s slipped into a coma.”

  Which meant that Deanna was a temporary dead end when it came to information. Duncan flipped the steaks. “There’s still someone out there who is after Eleanor’s dowry.”

  “Any ideas about him or her?” Skinner asked. “You’re the profiler.”

  “I’m thinking, I’m hoping, that Deanna’s partner is more rational,” Duncan said. “Whoever decided that Eleanor must have hidden the sapphires had the same basic idea that I did. The plan to search the library for some clue to the location of the jewels is exactly where I might have begun. And he was patient. Deanna wasn’t. But until we track that person down, we can’t be sure any of the MacPherson women are safe.”

  “They’re going to be as safe as we can make them. And we may have answers soon.” Daryl put a hand on Duncan’s shoulder. “In the meantime you and Piper have taken a da
ngerous serial killer off the street, you’ve captured one of the persons who was sneaking into the library, and you’ve found the second of Eleanor’s earrings. Any one of those things is worth a good steak any day. Even if we have to eventually wash it down with champagne.”

  “I can drink to that,” Skinner said. The three men raised their bottles in a toast.

  * * *

  PIPER THOUGHT THE MEAL WOULD never end. Not that she didn’t enjoy the steak and the champagne. It was just that since they’d come back from the cave, she hadn’t had a moment to think or to plan. Or to talk to Duncan.

  There’d been so many people, asking so many questions—first the state police, then the FBI. Her cell phone vibrated just as Daryl leaned over to top off her champagne. Reporters had been bothering her all afternoon, but she’d let them all go to voice mail. She glanced at the caller ID—Abe Monticello. Rising, she said, “I have to take this.” Then she walked out onto the patio. If Richard Starkweather was using Abe’s cell phone again, she was going to—

  “Piper. The story’s just breaking on the news here in D.C. Thanks to you, Patrick Lightman is going back to jail. Are you all right?”

  Not Richard, but Abe.

  “I’m fine. What do you mean thanks to me?”

  “The FBI has released an official statement that you were instrumental in the arrest, and that he was trying to abduct you when you took him out with a rock. You’re a heroine. Don’t you watch TV up there?”

  She turned back to stare at Duncan. “We’ve been busy.” Especially Duncan, she suspected.

  “I need you back here in the office on Monday. Now that you’re out of danger, I want you to take over second chair on the Bronwell trial. Richard can’t seem to do anything with the files you left him. Will you come back?”

  “Yes,” she said. “But there’s something I have to take care of right now.”

  Then she strode into the kitchen and right over to Duncan’s chair. “That was Abe Monticello. Evidently your boss called my boss and I’m supposed to report back to work on Monday. Now that I’ve been instrumental in the arrest of Patrick Lightman, I’ve gone from villain to heroine in the twenty-four-hour news cycle. So I’ll be an asset sitting second chair in the Bronwell trial.”

  “You will. But you don’t sound happy about it,” Duncan said.

  “I am.” She just wasn’t as happy as she’d thought she’d be.

  “This is what you wanted, isn’t it?” Duncan asked.

  “Yes, it is.” She remembered standing in the kitchen the evening before, telling Vi that this was exactly what she wanted. Her old life back. She’d wanted what she’d had before her apartment floor had been turned into an imitation of a crime scene. She’d wanted normal. And she still wanted to work for Abe. With all his flaws, he was the best teacher she could have at this stage of her career. But…

  Piper glanced around the table and noticed three sets of interested eyes on them. She shifted her gaze back to Duncan. “We have to talk. Now.” Then she turned and walked back out on the patio. When Duncan joined her, she led the way to the far end, then whirled to face him.

  “We have to get this settled now once and for all. I know that you played a role in Abe’s decision to call me.”

  When he opened his mouth to speak, she held up a hand. “Don’t try to explain. And I know I should be thanking you. I am thanking you. It’s what I wanted.”

  “The thing is, I don’t need you to play white knight. I can take care of myself.” And that was true. It just wasn’t what she’d wanted to say.

  Duncan studied her in the dimming light. She looked like a huntress again, and if he hadn’t already fallen in love with her, he would have right in that moment.

  Beyond one of her shoulders, he saw the sun, a large orangey-red ball, sinking slowly toward the lake. In a matter of minutes, it would be gone. And it reminded him of how quickly time passed. And of how much you could lose out on if you hesitated too long.

  “I agree. You can take care of yourself, and we do need to settle this.” He took her hand and drew her quickly along the path that wound through the garden. He didn’t stop until they were standing beneath the stone arch.

  “Okay,” he said. “I think it’s only appropriate to settle everything in the place where everything began between us.”

  “Yes.” Her gaze strayed to the spot on the right side of the arch where the metal box was hidden. Then she clasped her hands together. “You’re right. Everything did begin here. With that fantasy I wrote out. And…I think…I…”

  Duncan narrowed his gaze on her. Had he ever seen her at a loss for words?

  She twisted her fingers together and met his eyes. “I know what you’re going to say. It’s just…I…”

  It was only the second time he’d ever seen her rattled. He’d be a fool not to take advantage of it. Stepping forward he took one of her hands and linked his fingers with hers. And just that contact had his own tension easing a bit. Keeping his eyes steady on hers, he raised her hand to his lips. “You don’t know what I’m going to say, Piper. Because I’m winging it here. I don’t have your way with words. But I didn’t bring you here because of that fantasy you wrote all those years ago.”

  “You didn’t?”

  “No. I brought you here because I thought it was the best place to explain exactly what I want. I’m taking a page from your book, and Angus and Eleanor’s book. I want to tap into every bit of the power of the stones, just as they did.”

  When she simply stared at him, speechless, Duncan felt one flutter of panic. But there was no way he was going to back down or revert to sitting on the sidelines. No way. “I love you, Piper.”

  When she continued to stare at him, the panic fluttered again. “I know you like things neat, but I can’t promise you that. And I can’t promise you that I’m not going to want to take care of you. Because I intend to keep doing that for a very long time.”

  She still said nothing, but even in the shadows, Duncan caught the sheen of tears in her eyes. Panic did more than flutter this time. It spiked through him like a spear.

  When she opened her mouth to speak, he tightened his grip on her fingers. “You are not going to talk me out of this. Don’t even try.”

  “Okay.”

  “Okay?”

  Her smile spread slowly, and fear and panic flowed out of him just as easily as the one tear that rolled down her cheek.

  “I didn’t want this to happen,” she said.

  “Ditto.” He smiled at her. “But it has. So we have to deal with it. Don’t run away, Piper MacPherson.”

  “No, I won’t. And we will deal with it, Duncan Sutherland.” She rose on her toes and used her free hand to bring his face down to hers. “Together. Because I love you, too. So kiss me again beneath the stones. Might as well tap into as much of that power as we can.”

  He did, and as they both sank into the kiss, the stones surrounding them sighed.

  * * * * *

  Keep reading to read an excerpt of Blazing Midsummer Nights by Leslie Kelly!

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  1

  SOMEONE ONCE SAID that the course of true love never did run smooth. As Mimi Burdette watched two of her good friends sway together in a romantic dance, however, she had to disagree. Because the true love between this couple had been obvious to everyone who knew them, almost from the moment they�
�d met.

  “They look like a prince and princess,” murmured Anna, her neighbor, friend, landlady and tonight’s hostess.

  “Considering the setting, maybe a fairy king and queen.”

  She wasn’t kidding. The woods surrounding the backyard of the old plantation house just outside of Athens had been turned into a mythical forest. As dusk fell and a thousand twinkle lights began to gleam in the night, everyone at the engagement party slowed to appreciate the beauty all around them.

  A trio of musicians softly strummed their instruments, the lyrical notes riding a warm, summer breeze. The Spanish moss hanging from the live oaks gleamed silver under the evening dew and the firefly-soft lighting. Magnolias the size of dinner plates dotted the trees, looking like a thousand full moons, filling the air with their evocative scent. Lanterns hung from the lowest branches of the graceful pines, and the arches of a dozen arbors were draped with writhing, sweet-smelling jasmine and heavily laden grapevines.

  Okay, the vines and fruit were fake. But what an effect!

  “You really outdid yourself,” Mimi said to Anna, who stood watching the proceedings, wearing a smile.

  The older woman, dressed as always in colorful, flowing robes, merely shrugged. “Setting the stage for romance is easy when the people involved are meant for each other like Duke and Lyssa.” She chuckled. “Of course, it didn’t hurt that I’m helping with the costumes and props for the downtown theater group’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

  With her filmy, billowing clothes, and her long ash-gray hair, loose and wavy and entwined with flowers, Anna looked more like a hippie than a retiree. So maybe it wasn’t so surprising that she could take a normal backyard, ringed by normal Georgia woods, and turn it into something out of a storybook.

  “Anyway, it was just a few lights, some fabric—easy.”

  “Maybe for you, but other than advertising, the creative wiring was left out of my genetic code. To me, this looks like pure sorcery and magic.”