Lucky Like Us

by Jennifer Ryan

  “I hate to admit it, but it feels good knowing you’re worried about me and want to know if I’m okay. I missed you. I’ll see you tonight.”

  “Okay. I love you. Bye.” She hung up and immediately realized what she’d said. She looked across the dining room table at Tyler, who’d been sitting there listening the whole time. “Did I say ‘I love you’ to him and hang up?”

  “Yes you did, darlin’.” Tyler gave her a huge smile. “You look so pretty when you’re in shock,” he teased.

  “Oh, God. What have I done?”

  “You told him the truth when your defenses were down. He’s probably as stunned as you are.”

  “Stunned. Great. Maybe he didn’t hear me. Maybe he’ll think I didn’t mean it. You know, it was part of the goodbye.”

  “Maybe nothing. He heard you loud and clear, and I bet he’s happy as hell. He’ll probably gloat about it for a month.”

  “Sure he is. What man wouldn’t want to hear the woman he’s been seeing for, what, less than a month really, is in love with him. He’s probably running as fast as he can. He probably won’t even show up tonight. You’ll be my date.”

  Tyler chuckled and gave her a huge grin. “I’d love to be your date, but I’m afraid you’re stuck with Sam. If my guess is right, you’ll be struck with him the rest of your life.”

  She laid her head on her arms on the table and groaned in frustration and embarrassment. “I really screwed this one up. Couldn’t I keep my big mouth shut? Couldn’t I wait to tell him in, oh, say a year? He must think I’m crazy.”

  His smile broadened when she looked up and glared at him. “I have to say, I’m enjoying sitting on the sidelines of this game of love. You’re a great match. Maybe I’ll get lucky one day.”

  Frustrated, she stood and went into the kitchen. She needed to work off some of her energy and think about everything. She’d come up with an explanation for what she’d said if he asked. Maybe he wouldn’t ask. Maybe he’d let it go. That’s it. They’d pretend it never happened.

  She aimlessly took canisters out of the cabinets.

  “What are you doing?” Tyler asked.

  “What would you like? A pie, a cake, maybe some cookies? Oh, I’ll make them all and you can decide once they’re done.”

  Too much was happening all at once; she needed to sort it out. They had the ball tonight, a murderer wanted her dead, Jarred was stalking her and deluding himself into thinking they’d get married, Sam’s sister-in-law wanted to speak to her, and—oh yeah—she told Sam she loved him. Good God, what a day.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  * * *

  Friday, 6:30 P.M.

  SAM LED JACK and Jenna into the living room. He scanned the baked goods filling every baker’s rack and available counter space. He spotted Tyler on the landing, walking out of Elizabeth’s room. “What the hell are you doing up there?” Sam asked, about to blow a blood vessel.

  “I didn’t expect everyone to show up early. You weren’t supposed to be here for another half hour.”

  Tyler planted both hands on the railing, leaned over, and gave him a cocky grin. “What kind of gentleman would I be if I didn’t help a beautiful woman zip up her dress? I have to say the bullet wounds are healing nicely. I assured her no one could see them, even though that dress is a knockout.”

  Sam was halfway up the stairs before he finished the last part of the sentence. Tyler threw up his hands to ward off Sam coming at him like a freight train.

  “Get a grip, Sam. Think about what she said to you today. Do you really think anything happened in that room other than my zipping up her dress?”

  Sam had thought of nothing else but what she’d said to him on the phone. She loved him, and he’d hoped all day it was true. Apparently, Tyler believed it.

  He stopped short in front of Tyler, sighed, and ran a hand through his hair. He didn’t have anything to say. She loved him. She wouldn’t do anything with Tyler. She was his.

  “And reason returns.” Tyler clamped a hand on his shoulder. “Good. Now come downstairs. I need to tell you about tonight’s operation.”

  “Operation? I’m supposed to protect her while she goes to the ball. The place will be crawling with security. She’ll be fine.” Tyler’s intense face said he was about to put the weight of the world on Sam’s shoulders. After last night, Sam wasn’t sure he could take much more. All he wanted was for her to be safe.

  “She won’t go unless I fill you in. You won’t like this, Sam, but it’s necessary, and the only way to arrest this guy.”

  “What are you talking about? We don’t even know who he is.”

  “We do. We have since Elizabeth identified him before she left the hospital.”

  Shocked, Sam mumbled, “She knew who attacked us. She knows the identity of the Silver Fox.” They’d arrest him, and this would all be over. Finally.

  “Davies and I both made her swear not to tell you or the other agents watching her. We weren’t sure how many other people might be involved, besides Scott at the insurance company and our suspect, so we wanted you to watch for any threat.”

  “She knew the whole time she was in the hospital?”

  “No. She worked with a sketch artist the day before she came home.” Tyler steered Sam toward the stairs, and they headed down to where Jack and Jenna waited in the sitting area.

  “Once I had the sketch, I compared it to some of the photos we had of suspects. He wasn’t part of our suspect pool, but Elizabeth had an idea of where she’d seen him. She studied that sketch for a long time, and then it got interesting. She remembered the logo on the bracelet he wore. The guy’s company logo to be exact. I set up an impromptu photo lineup, and she picked the guy out, no problem. He’s been in hiding ever since the night he tried to poison her in the hospital. We’ve had his homes, his place of business, and his known haunts staked out, but he hasn’t shown himself.

  “He’s on the guest list tonight. We’ve spread the word in every newspaper and advertisement about the ball that the entire Hamilton family will attend. He knows she’ll be there. He won’t pass up an opportunity to grab her in public.”

  “You’re using her as bait.” His stomach turned to stone. “Was this your idea? Davies?”

  “No, Sam. It was hers.”

  “Hers? Are you kidding me? She wants to offer herself up as bait?”

  “She wants this to be over.”

  Sam understood why she wanted it over. Having someone follow you around everywhere you went and watching your back constantly was no way to live. Even if Sam was the one with her all the time, it wasn’t any way for them to have a relationship.

  “Sam, I for one know what it’s like to be afraid someone is out there waiting for a chance to hurt you,” Jenna said, reminding him of how he’d helped save her from her ex-husband. “She’s got to be scared, not to mention feeling very much alone. I had people around me, but I was always so scared something would happen to them because of me.

  “It’s why I isolated myself. Elizabeth wants to end this so her family and friends will be safe. She wants to make sure you’re safe,” Jenna said, putting her hand on his chest.

  Tyler pointed to the other room. “Look at that kitchen. She did all of that in about four hours because she’s scared to death she’ll lose you and she’ll never have her life back. She baked about two dozen different pies, a dozen cakes, and I don’t know how many dozen cookies. I’ve never eaten so many sweets in my life. She’s up there scared to death this won’t work, and she’ll spend the rest of her life afraid of this guy. She’s even more scared you’ll hate her for lying to you about all of this.”

  “That’s ridiculous. I’m pissed you kept me in the dark, but I’m not mad at her for keeping the secret you asked her to keep. I know how these things go down. I didn’t become an agent yesterday, you know. It just proves how trustworthy she is. I hate the idea of dangling her in front of this psychopath.”

  “You don’t have a choice,” Elizabeth said from be
hind the group.

  She came down the stairs while they were talking. She wasn’t sure how Sam might feel once he found out what they had planned, but hearing him say he wasn’t angry she’d kept it from him made her feel better.

  She’d spent most of her time upstairs, hoping he wouldn’t comment about her blurting out she loved him. He had feelings for her, but she didn’t know how deep they ran. She didn’t want to mess things up before they really had a chance to bloom.

  Since they hadn’t seen her come down the stairs, she had time to get a good look at everyone. Sam and Jack were identical in their tuxes. No one would tell them apart. She could, and she bet Jenna could, but others would see identical images of the same man.

  Stunning in purple, Jenna’s dress was a sleeveless V-neck, snug around the waist before it draped and flowed down to the floor. Gorgeous. Her hair was pinned up in an elegant French twist. She wore green amethyst jewelry, the same pale shade as her eyes. The heart-shaped pendant on her chest sparkled like dew on a blade of grass.

  Sam turned around to talk to her, but stopped dead, struck speechless at the sight of her. More beautiful than he’d ever seen her, she wore a white gown with tiny gold roses stitched into the fabric, connected by a line of gold thread, glistening in the light. Strapless, her breasts swelled over the top with each breath she took. The dress hugged her body to her knees before softly flaring out at the bottom and swaying as she moved.

  He always thought the expression trite, but she literally took his breath away. Chocolate curls fell here and there from the knot on top of her head, framing her angelic face. Light makeup enhanced her soft skin and beautiful blue eyes. Still wearing the same diamond earrings he’d seen her in before, she’d added a diamond tennis bracelet and a diamond cocktail ring. He’d never seen her look so expensive. He never really thought about who she was, besides his witness and a bakery and café owner. But she belonged to the Hamilton family, and that meant money. Not for the first time, he thought she was completely out of his league.

  “Aren’t you going to say anything?” Elizabeth fidgeted self-consciously.

  “You’re beautiful.” Sam couldn’t think of anything else to say but the obvious.

  “I’ve been telling her that every ten minutes since you left, man. You can do better than that,” Tyler chided.

  Tyler loved giving him a hard time. This time Sam didn’t rise to the bait. He was struck speechless by the sight of Elizabeth. Something about her glowed. She radiated wealth in that gown and those jewels, almost royal.

  “Until this moment, I didn’t really understand who you are. I didn’t realize what your being a Hamilton means.”

  She wanted to throw something at him. What the hell did he mean by that? If he thought because she had money they were somehow different, he had another think coming.

  Jenna and Jack exchanged a look, and Tyler stared at the floor.

  “Being a Hamilton means the same thing as being a Turner.”

  “Let’s face it, sweetheart, it isn’t exactly the same.”

  She ignored that statement and made one of her own. “Do you mean being a Turner doesn’t mean you’re smart, trustworthy, strong, honorable, dependable, and reliable? Because that’s what being a Hamilton means to my family and me. The rest is just a bunch of green paper and stuff. I’m the same person you knew yesterday. Look at Jack and Jenna. Do you think it really matters to Jack that Jenna has all that money? No,” she answered for them. “I run a bakery. I go to fancy parties because of my name, but most of the events I attend are to support a charity. I give food to the local shelters and food banks.”

  “Looks like they’ll eat well, too.” He nodded toward the kitchen where every available space had a pie, cake, or cookie on it.

  Heat rose in her cheeks when she saw what she’d done. She glared at Tyler. “Why didn’t you stop me?”

  “Stop you? You were a woman on a mission, and I stood back and got out of the way before you baked me into one of those pies.” He looked back at the kitchen and her again. “What did you want me to do? Tell you to put the spatula down and come out of the kitchen with your hands up?” Tyler smiled, along with everyone else but Elizabeth.

  “Excuse me.” Embarrassed, she picked up the phone and called Kay. “Hey, it’s me. Can you do me a favor tonight?”

  “What do you need? I thought you and Sam were attending the ball. I’m surprised to hear from you.”

  “We are. I seem to have baked a few extra things today. Could you come by and take them over to the shelter? I’ll leave the keys to my car on the counter.”

  “Sure. Is everything okay?”

  “Everything is fine. Why do you ask?”

  “No reason. I have a question for Sam, is he there?” Kay asked casually.

  “Yeah, hold on. Oh, I don’t have time to pack things up. You know where everything is though.” She gave the phone to Sam. “Kay wants to ask you something.”

  Sam didn’t know what Kay wanted, but she was Elizabeth’s best friend and probably wanted him to reassure her the FBI was doing everything possible to keep her safe. “Hi Kay, it’s Sam. What’s up?”

  “Without letting Elizabeth know what we’re talking about, how much did she bake? Enough for a family, a pie eating contest, or a corporation?”

  “Definitely the last one. Why?” His suspicions rose.

  “Because when she bakes at home it means she’s upset. The volume of what she bakes tells you how upset she is. What happened? What did you do to her?”

  “Nothing. I don’t know. I wasn’t here.”

  He didn’t know how to answer. He had no idea Elizabeth went nuts baking when she was upset. Based on the state of her kitchen, she was really distressed, and he hadn’t done a damn thing to make her feel better since he arrived. She had so much to be worried about that he couldn’t pick out the one thing that might be upsetting her most.

  “Are you going to find out what’s wrong with her, or do I have to talk to her and find out?”

  “I’ll take care of it. Don’t worry. We’ll talk to you later.” Sam would take care of it too. He’d start right now.

  Elizabeth sat at the kitchen bar, speaking with his brother and Jenna and feeding them cookies. He needed to talk to her alone for a minute and grabbed her hand, pulling her with him toward the massive stone fireplace and as far away from Jack, Jenna, and Tyler as he could get her without dragging her out of the house all together.

  “Sam, I was talking with your family.”

  “They can wait.”

  He pulled her into his arms and kissed her. He only meant to give her a quick kiss before he talked to her, but as soon as his lips touched hers, he took it deeper and lingered over her mouth and the sweet taste of her. Her scent, something sweet and flowery, wrapped around him. Damn, she even smelled expensive. She opened to him, and he dove in without thinking about anything but having more of her. Regaining some semblance of sanity, he slowed the kiss and gave her a few light brushes of his lips over hers.

  He leaned back. Her eyes fluttered open and held a dreamy wonder. He continued to hold her waist and looked into her eyes. “Did I tell you how much I missed you last night?”

  “No. Instead you implied that somehow between yesterday and today I turned into someone you don’t know because you saw me in a dress,” she grumbled.

  “You look like a million bucks in that dress, and it occurred to me you’re probably worth that much too.”

  “More actually. Much more. But that has nothing to do with who I am and the woman you know,” she snapped.

  This wasn’t going well. “I realize you’re the same woman, and the fact you have money shouldn’t bother me. It does because I’m an FBI agent with a decent salary, but nothing near what you must make, or what the people you know earn.”

  “I think the same thing I thought every other day I’ve known you. When I look at you, I don’t see a paycheck, or what you have or don’t have. I see you, the kind, caring, strong, dependable p
erson I met in the hospital. I see the man who calls me sweetheart and makes my knees weak when he kisses me. I see the man I love. There, I said it.” Throwing her hands up and letting them fall, she went on. “If all of this is because I said I love you on the phone and you can’t deal with it, I’m sorry. I do love you. I don’t care if you’re an FBI agent with a decent salary, or an Internet mogul with millions.”

  About to turn away, Sam stopped her by pulling her into his arms and kissing her again.

  He didn’t know what to say. She blew his mind. Could he deal with the fact she loves him? Hell yes. It’s what he wanted more than anything. “Elizabeth, I . . .”

  “I’m sorry to interrupt,” Jenna cut in. “There’s something I want to speak to you about, Elizabeth, and we don’t have much time before we leave.”

  “Jenna, can’t this wait? I’m trying to talk to her about something important.” Sam kept a firm grip on Elizabeth’s waist.

  “You both will have to wait,” Tyler interrupted this time. “I need to go over a few things with Elizabeth and Sam before we go. I need to make sure both of you understand the protocol for tonight.”

  Sam’s blood pressure rose dangerously high. Elizabeth stepped away, slipping from his grasp, their conversation left hanging.

  Sam wanted to throw them all out and take Elizabeth upstairs, get her out of that million-dollar dress, and make love to her the rest of the night. Could he tell her he loved her? He’d never said the words to a woman. He’d never felt this way about anyone else.

  “Tyler, you’ve gone over everything with Elizabeth already. We can recap in the car on the way. I want another minute with her,” Sam said with frustration, but Elizabeth was already walking away to grab her wrap from a chair.

  “We don’t have time. We have to leave. I’m going ahead so I can change and be in position when you arrive. It has to be now.”

  “Shit.” Sam went to help Elizabeth out to the car. She seemed more than willing to leave their conversation unfinished. He hated to think it was because she thought he didn’t have anything to say back to her after she’d confessed she loved him.