Sam stroked her back, her arms, her bottom, pulling her tight against him. He lowered his head and captured her nipple and rolled his tongue over it, all the time he thrust in and out of her, his body brushing her sensitive clit. She wasn’t going to hold off her orgasm, this was not going to be some long drawn-out lovemaking. Pity, because each moment she spent in bed with Sam put off the inevitable. And she would much rather be here than meeting Mrs. Delamere unexpectedly and unannounced.
Lia’s climax hovered before her eyes, she just had to reach out and take it. She didn’t, she put her mind elsewhere, and let her other senses take over. The softness of his lips, the roughness of his stubbled chin, which he would shave before they left the house. The scent of him, pine trees and fresh air, mingled with his cologne. She hadn’t known him long enough to know the brand.
Sam shifted his weight on the bed, changed the angle of his body, and slipped his hand from her bottom to the sensitive place between her legs that throbbed with need. He pinched her clit, while his mouth nipped her breasts. The pain was exquisite. She gasped and pressed herself closer to him as if she could climb inside of his skin and be one with him. Wouldn’t that solve all their problems, if she simply ceased to exist?
But to exist outside of Sam was even more amazing. To exist here, with her body next to his, and his cock inside her, was the most incredible thing. So incredible. So amazing. So satisfying.
Lia could hold on no longer, his hands and mouth assaulted her senses, his cock lunged in and out of her, and she finally allowed her orgasm to claim her. With a grunt, Sam followed, his cock spurting his seed deep inside her. Hard, he plunged into her, and she placed a hand on his butt, feeling his muscles working as he came.
Sam cried out, calling her name, telling her of his need for her.
As their lovemaking ended she knew he had given her the strength to face the day. Because she loved him so much. Too much. They were as one, not skin inside skin, but souls connected, and damn anyone who tried to come between them.
The fire in her belly carried her through taking a shower, getting dressed, and eating breakfast. It propelled her forward as she drove to the Delamere’s residence, and helped her raise her hand to ring the doorbell. It made her feet stay firmly on the doorstep as footsteps from inside the house walked toward the door, and the door was pulled open to reveal Mrs. Delamere, a look of surprise on her face.
“What do you want?” Mrs. Delamere hissed.
“I need your help,” Lia began.
“My help?” Mrs. Delamere’s face turned red. “Why would I help you, thief?”
“I am not a thief.” Lia kept her voice level. “Can we talk inside?”
“I don’t want you in my house,” Mrs. Delamere said vehemently.
“Then you won’t get to hear what I have to say before I go public.” Lia took a step back. “Sorry to have troubled you.”
“Wait. Come in.” Mrs. Delamere beckoned Lia inside. “You have five minutes, then I’m calling the police.”
“An empty threat and we both know it,” Lia said hotly as she entered the house. If Mrs. Delamere was a dragon, she would have been shooting fireballs at Lia, but she wasn’t. The question Lia was here to find out was whether Mrs. Delamere was a shifter at all.
“Four minutes.” Mrs. Delamere stood with her arms folded across her chest.
Lia slipped her hand in her pocket and pressed the dial button on her phone, hoping Sam was in position and had a good signal. Not wanting to tip Mrs. Delamere off that someone might be eavesdropping on their conversation, she began her own interrogation of her boss’s wife. If Sam was wrong, she was going to make a complete fool of herself. But if he was right, this was all going to be cleared up quickly. And permanently.
“What exactly are you, Mrs. Delamere?” Sam had told her to go for the jugular straight off.
“I am the wife of the man you stole from.” Mrs. Delamere was going to be a tough nut to crack. Unless Sam had gotten this all wrong. Then Lia was going to be in trouble.
“Come on, Mrs. Delamere, we both know that I didn’t steal anything,” Lia said, accepting no argument before moving on. “I know you took the necklace and earrings from the safe. And now you are blackmailing your husband. Is that because you have a lover? A mate?”
“You would know all about lovers,” Mrs. Delamere hissed, coming toward Lia. “Thief.”
“I told you, I am not a thief, I never stole the items from your husband’s safe, you know that.”
“Yes, I know it, but that isn’t what I’m accusing you of stealing,” Mrs. Delamere’s accent grew thicker the angrier she got. And she sure was angry.
“Then what are you accusing me of stealing?” Lia asked, confused. Sam told her there was nothing else missing from the safe.
“You stole my husband, or at least you tried. But I stopped you. I got rid of you.”
“By planting the necklace at my apartment?” Lia nodded, her heart racing as she tried to figure out why Mrs. Delamere thought she was trying to steal her husband.
“Yes, I planted the jewels. I showed Martin what you were.” Mrs. Delamere’s eyes flashed with anger.
“Because you thought I was having an affair with him?” Lia asked, still trying to figure out what evidence Mrs. Delamere was basing her accusations on.
“Yes, do you take me for a fool? All those power naps. You both thought I was too stupid to know that it was a ruse. You don’t think I knew what you were doing? It wasn’t napping, was it?”
“Yes. At least Mr. Delamere was napping. I was working,” Lia assured her accuser.
“You liar. I heard you.”
“Heard us what?” Lia demanded.
“I came by and heard you. Grunting, groaning. I know what my mate sounds like when he is being pleasured.” Her voice rose to fever pitch, and the air began to shimmer around her. If Lia had any doubt that Mrs. Delamere was a shifter, it was now gone.
“I don’t know what you mean.” Lia closed the space between her and Mrs. Delamere, grabbing hold of her, not wanting her to shift, because she wasn’t sure what she was going to shift into. “I am not having, or never have I had, an affair with your husband.”
“Liar!” She lashed out, but Lia dodged back. “He should have hunted you down. After I sent those men to your apartment.”
“You sent them? Did you tell them to threaten me?” It all made sense now, all the fragments fitted together.
“I wanted to make sure you never came back here. So that you never came between me and my mate again.”
“I never got between you two in the first place. You made it all up,” Lia accused.
“Do you know what it’s like to have a man, the only man for you, and see him fawn over another woman? Lia this, Lia that. And then the gifts began. I knew then that he was guilty.”
“The gifts?”
“Yes. He even let you choose them. Did you think I was too stupid to notice that he actually started to give me gifts I might want? That he bought tickets to the theater and took me to the best restaurants. After ten years of marriage, ten years of being blind to my needs… He’s my mate.”
“I understand,” Lia said, trying to soothe Mrs. Delamere. “But I need you to know, I have a mate too. And Mr. Delamere, your husband, is not him.”
“You are a liar. You thought you were going to steal him away from me.” Mrs. Delamere took two steps back from Lia and shifted.
Into a big, freakin’ mouse.
Chapter Sixteen – Sam
“Now do you believe Lia isn’t responsible?” Sam asked Martin Delamere as they got out of his car. They had just arrived outside of the Delamere residence.
“I suppose. Perhaps some part of me always questioned her guilt. But my wife can be very persuasive,” came the reply.
“Well, now it’s time for you to be very persuasive,” Sam said, as he slammed the car door shut, and marched toward the house. The plan had gone perfectly, Sam had explained how the whole robbery occurred, and h
ow the jewels had been planted in Lia’s apartment. Hearing his wife’s confession had made Martin Delamere admit his wife had sent those men to search Lia’s apartment and threaten her. Mr. Delamere had taken Lia’s flight as guilt; now he knew better.
“I don’t think you understand,” Martin Delamere said. “My wife…”
“Wears the pants?” Sam finished, not willing to accept any excuses for the Delameres’ behavior toward Lia.
“You could say that.” Mr. Delamere stood outside the front door, looking nervous. “I don’t think I want to go inside.”
“Marty. Can I call you Marty?” Sam clapped his massive hand down on Mr. Delamere’s shoulder, nearly grinding the man into the ground. “I just want you to know, this is not a request. You are going to go in there and make your wife believe Lia is no threat to her. Do you understand?” Sam used his height to its fullest advantage and loomed over Lia’s old boss.
In truth, it wasn’t an act. Sam was going to do whatever it took to end this whole thing right now. Whatever it took. And his expression conveyed that message loud and clear.
Mr. Delamere reached out a shaking hand, unlocked the front door, and pushed it wide open. Sam lifted his hand from the other man’s shoulder and pushed him through the doorway. He tried to be gentle. OK, maybe that was a lie. He tried to be persuasive, and it worked.
“Hi, honey, I’m home.”
“Is that what you really say when you get home?” Sam asked.
Mr. Delamere shrugged. “She likes it.”
“Lia,” Sam called, looking down at the phone in his hand. The call had been cut off abruptly when Lia had said something about a mouse. Words that had made Mr. Delamere go pale. All this left Sam afraid his plan had backfired. He had no idea what was going on inside the house. All he knew was that his mate was in here, and she might need his help.
Or then again, she might not.
“I’m in here,” Lia called.
Both men ran forward, Mr. Delamere giving a squeak of anguish as he saw his wife trapped under a glass bowl, her little legs moving frantically as she tried to get out.
“What have you done to her?” Mr. Delamere demanded.
“What have I done to her?” Lia hissed. “Do you know what she has done to me?”
“She’s very territorial.” Mr. Delamere said in way of an explanation, as he knelt down beside his wife.
“That is not going to wash here,” Sam said, entering the room, and nearly filling it with his huge body, which seemed to grow bigger the angrier he got, and he was angry. The swift elation he had felt at finding he had put the pieces together in the correct order, was replaced by a strong need to stomp on a certain mouse.
“Did you know she was a mouse?” Lia asked looking up at Sam, horror filling her expression.
“Not a mouse. She’s a shrew,” Mr. Delamere corrected.
“That would explain how she got into your apartment and planted the evidence. And how she learned the combination for the safe. She’s small enough to get into most places.” He’d seen it all now.
“She was jealous.” Lia looked down at the shrew, and then at Mr. Delamere. “She thought we were having an affair.”
“I heard,” Mr. Delamere said, getting closer to his wife, who stopped moving and looked at him—lovingly. If a shrew could experience love. “I’m sorry, Solange. Lia means nothing to me.”
“I’m still trying to figure out why she thought we were having an affair.” Lia frowned at the shrew through the glass.
“It started off as an accusation, she said she’d heard us…” Mr. Delamere began. “I denied it, of course. But she didn’t believe me. And then…well, we had the best sex ever. It was her way of renewing her claim on me. Like other married couples renew their vows.”
Sam nearly choked as those words registered. “You let Lia’s life get ruined because you had the best sex ever?”
“I’m not proud,” Mr. Delamere said. “But my wife has always been somewhat dissatisfied with me.”
Lia’s face turned pale, and she wrinkled her nose as she looked at her boss. “So you used me?”
“Solange fed on her jealousy for you. She made demands of me that I had never dreamt of. You see, she comes from a family of strong men. Very strong men. And I am not like that.”
“Shocker,” Sam ground out.
“I thought this would all go away, that Solange would let it go. You know, once you were out of sight, out of mind. I thought that you would take the jewelry and run. I didn’t know she had threatened you.”
“Even so, you should have believed I didn’t have the jewelry,” Lia said hotly.
“I believed you did. Solange insisted I send someone over to search your apartment, she said it had to be you. That you had only been so efficient as a PA so that you could gain my trust. When they found the necklace I realized she was right, and you were guilty. We had the necklace, I could work something out about the earrings, I was sure. So I figured you would make do with the earrings and sell them, and I’d never see you again. It would be over. I let you go.” Mr. Delamere turned to face Lia. “But then you tried to blackmail me, and that reinforced your guilt. Which is why I hired you, Sam Spencer.”
“Oh, Marty,” Sam said, with genuine sympathy. “You really are a piece of work. Your adoring wife set that up too.”
“I know that now.” Mr. Delamere’s face paled and he looked down at the spider. “Although I can’t understand why?”
The air shimmered and the glass under Lia’s hand shattered, making her jump back out of the way as Solange Delamere returned to her human form. And boy, was she pissed. “Because you still had feelings for her.” An angry finger was pointed at Lia. “When you refused to hunt her down over the earrings, it confirmed my worst fear. I wanted you to destroy her.”
“Why didn’t you let it go, Solange?” Mr. Delamere said sadly. “Didn’t you believe me when I said you were the only woman for me?”
“I tried,” Solange said. “I truly tried.”
“You could have both walked away. That would have been the sensible thing to do,” Sam said, he took Lia’s hand and moved toward the door. “Because then I would not have looked at your business quite as closely.”
“What do you mean?” Solange asked.
“While we have been here, having a chit-chat, the police have visited your office, and they have seized a number of documents. From your safe.” Sam let those words linger in the air, as the sound of vehicles outside of the house reached them. “Right now, there are several arrests being made by Interpol. And here are the police to arrest you.”
Behind them, there was a flurry of action as police filed into the room. The Delameres were quickly arrested, even though Solange nearly tried to make a break for it, but she didn’t shift in time. So much for loving her mate. Or maybe she planned to turn into a shrew and visit her mate in his jail cell.
“This has to be one of the craziest cases I’ve ever worked,” Sam said. He sighed as he leaned against his car. They had left the house and were watching as several items, including the missing diamond earrings, were carried from the house. “Worst thing is, I never got the rest of my fee. I solved the puzzle. But didn’t get paid. Story of my life.”
“He really did think I was blackmailing him,” Lia said. “What if those men had found me? I didn’t think Mr. Delamere was capable of hurting me, but Mrs. Delamere…she wanted me destroyed.”
Her hand in his was trembling. “Hey, I’d never have let that happen,” Sam assured her.
“But what if you hadn’t walked into my life?” She leaned against him and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “We’ll never find out, and I refuse to let it overshadow my life with you. It’s over.”
“Except for the court case. We will both be witnesses,” Sam informed her.
“Yeah, a shrew did it. That is going to sound totally plausible,” Lia said. “I still don’t understand it all myself. How can two people allow their relationship to become so to
xic?”
“Don’t even try. All you need to know is, thanks to you the police had the combination, and the bad guys got arrested. You know the Delameres only got in trouble because they didn’t trust the mating bond.”
“That is never going to happen to us.” Lia’s tone was firm.
“Never. There is no one else for me,” Sam assured her.
“Good.” Lia sighed. “This has taught me one thing.”
“Which is?” Sam asked.
“I am not as good at reading people as I thought I was. I figured Mrs. Delamere ignored me because I was nothing to her, but in reality, I was everything. All her anger and suspicion. And those meetings…I should have known they were shady. Those secret meetings.”
“Hey. Let it go. None of it matters. You have an expert by your side now.”
“Sam Spencer, Private Investigator. Yeah. I’m going to go back to the Bear Creek News offices and do my job, and let you do the finding.”
“I could train you. You know. You could be my sidekick.” He looked down at Lia, glad to see the smile back on her face.
“Thanks for the offer, but I’ll pass. One of us has to earn some real money.”
“Good point,” Sam said.
“Speaking of which, we have to go and pick up Lenny and clean his house.”
“We do. And luckily, since it’s Saturday, I have organized a few helping hands.”
“I like it when someone else does the organizing.” Lia thumped his chest lightly. “At least, just this once.”
Epilogue
“Doesn’t it look good?” Lia asked Lenny as they admired the kitchen, which sparkled, it was so clean.
“It does.” Lenny ran his hand over the surfaces. “Ophelia will be so pleased.”
“It just shows what a bit of teamwork can do,” Lia said, a huge sense of satisfaction and peace settling over her.
“Coupled with your organizational skills,” Teagan said, coming into the kitchen with a baby in her arms.
“Is this the little man who has been keeping you up?” Lia asked. A fluttering filled her stomach. Lia placed her hand there. It was too soon for her to be pregnant, but she was sure the fluttering was fueled by a longing to be a mother. To hold a child of her own, look into its face, and experience unconditional motherly love.
P.I. Bear (Return to Bear Creek Book 7) Page 10
