“I know I can’t,” he responded. “And until this investigation is over and your name is formally cleared, I am not going to touch you again.”
“Because you don’t want to be romantically linked to a suspected murderer?”
“No, dammit, because people talk, and it won’t win you any friends here in Trinity Harbor if it seems you’re turning to another man this soon after your husband’s death. Not everyone knows Chandler was cheating on you. Not everyone knows you were planning to divorce him. All they’ll see is that you’re being awfully quick to jump in the sack with someone new.”
“Not new,” she reminded him.
“You know what I meant.”
“Okay, let me read between the lines here,” she said. “You’re not saying never, correct?”
Tucker sighed heavily, as if his regrets were too many to be counted. “No, I am not saying never.”
A slow smile spread across her face. “I can live with that,” she said. Maybe Anna-Louise was right, after all. Maybe there really was reason to hope for a future with Tucker. She met Tucker’s gaze, then added, “For the time being, anyway.”
A grin touched Tucker’s lips, then vanished. “Trying to motivate me to get this case solved in a hurry, Liz?”
“You bet,” she said without hesitation. “I want to get back to living my life, not sitting on the sidelines and watching it pass me by. How about you?”
His gaze met hers and held it. Once more the air crackled with electricity.
“No comment,” he said eventually.
She laughed. “Chicken.”
“No, darlin’. I’ve known you a long time. If I give you an inch, you’ll take a mile, and the next thing I know you and I will be inside and in bed, living in the moment and saying to hell with everybody else.”
“Would that be so awful?”
“That depends. You intending to stick around Trinity Harbor?”
She nodded.
“Then it would be a disaster,” he said flatly.
Much as Liz wanted to argue, she knew he was right. Rushing into something with Tucker right now would only stir up more trouble for both of them.
“Do you know how annoying it is to have to admit you’re right about everything?” she groused.
“Oh, I’ve been wrong a time or two,” Tucker said, then grinned. “Just not in recent memory.”
“Go home, Tucker.”
He laughed at that. “See, I knew I could bring you around to my way of thinking. You’re actually kicking me out now. That’s good,” he said approvingly as he stood up and went inside.
Liz frowned at him, but she followed him to the front door. To her astonishment, he leaned down and pressed a hard, unforgettable kiss to her lips before jogging off into the night.
“Sweet dreams,” he called back as he climbed into his car.
Liz touched a finger to her burning lips. Sweet dreams, indeed. She’d be lucky if she slept a wink.
17
Sitting on the back patio at Swan Ridge, sipping lemonade and talking over his day with Mary Elizabeth was just a little too much like old times for Tucker’s comfort. The only things missing were the soft, lingering kisses, stolen whenever her grandfather’s watchful gaze was turned the other way. And as Tucker had told Mary Elizabeth very firmly, he did not intend to lay a hand on her until the matter of her husband’s death was resolved.
Okay, five seconds later he’d broken his own vow, but that momentary lapse on his way out the door never should have happened. That was twice now he’d lost his head, which just went to prove that he couldn’t trust himself around her. Steering clear of her entirely was definitely the way to go, much as they both might hate it.
It had nothing to do with respect for the dearly departed or the ritual mourning period. He simply was not going to stir up idle gossip that could hurt her, or risk having his heart broken a second time by the discovery that Mary Elizabeth had been merely using him—or his expertise, at any rate—to keep herself out of jail. He felt better on that score after learning today that even his skeptical, consummate professional brother-in-law had doubts about her guilt, but Tucker still wasn’t willing to take any chances.
That was why he’d made sure he bolted from Swan Ridge before the sky turned dark and filled with stars, before the silvery allure of the moon on the river filled the night with memories. It was getting harder and harder, though, to tear himself away from her.
But after he had—and thanks to that ill-advised kiss goodbye—his nerves were jumbled and he was far too restless to go straight home. He drove into town, walked along the boardwalk that his brother and Jenna had designed and developed, and mingled with the crowd of summer tourists. He bought a corn dog and a grape snow cone, sat on a bench where he could hear the music of Bobby’s infamous antique merry-go-round and pretended that times were simpler.
While he was sitting there, he was acknowledged by half the people who passed. If their friendly greetings were indicative—and contrary to his father’s fears—the locals didn’t seem all that disturbed about his decision to remove himself from the Chandler case. There were no speculative glances, no obvious whispered comments, once they’d strolled by. In fact, he felt reassured by their outward acceptance. Whatever reservations they’d had on first hearing the news, they were apparently getting past it. It reminded him that one of the reasons he’d chosen to stay in Trinity Harbor was the sense of community and belonging. This was Spencer territory, despite the newcomers who were slowly changing the town from a sleepy rural village to a unique summer retreat.
He wondered if Mary Elizabeth would find the new Trinity Harbor more to her liking. In the old days she had been tempted by bright lights and glamour. She had chafed at his refusal to compromise and relocate to a big city. Would she be any more eager to stay here now? he wondered. Was he setting himself up for even more disappointment by believing she had changed, that her coming back here now was about more than her disenchantment with her marriage?
Pondering such unanswerable questions was one reason it was pitch-dark by the time he finally got home. That was no doubt why he didn’t notice the cars in front of his house, that and the fact that his head was filled with thoughts of Mary Elizabeth and just how desperately he wanted her, despite—or perhaps because of—his resolve to do nothing about it.
“Getting in a little late, aren’t you, son?”
Tucker’s heart thumped unsteadily at the unexpected sound of King’s voice cutting through the still, sultry August air. It carried him back to his teens, when King had often waited in the shadows of the porch at Cedar Hill until the last of his children wandered in past curfew. He was no less defensive now, but he held his tongue and settled for a nonconfrontational response.
“Daddy, what brings you by?” he inquired mildly.
As if he didn’t know. Tucker cast a quick glance back toward the street and noted the lineup of cars he’d missed before. Daisy’s and Bobby’s were there plain as day, as well. King had obviously mustered his troops and planned on a full-scale assault. Tucker had been warned about this, but he’d hoped by now that King had moved on to other things. He should have known better.
“Does a man have to make an appointment to see his own son?” King asked, sounding cranky. Before Tucker could say a word, he answered his own question. “Apparently so, since I’ve been hanging around here just about every night for the past week or so. Where the devil have you been keeping yourself till all hours?”
“I’ve been busy,” Tucker said, finally drawing close enough to see the enemy. King was looking rather pleased with himself at having caught Tucker off-guard. Daisy and Bobby were keeping their expressions determinedly neutral. “So, where are Walker and Jenna? I’m sure they’d like to add their two cents to this family discussion.”
“Walker’s at the station,” Daisy offered. “He said he’s not getting involved in your personal business.”
Tucker grinned at her obvious exasperation. “Is that so
? That must be driving you crazy. Did he also happen to mention his new theory about Mary Elizabeth?”
“If you’re referring to his gut feeling that she’s not guilty, he told me,” Daisy said. “I’ll wait for him to actually arrest somebody else before I buy that, if it’s all the same to the two of you.”
“Damn, but you’re hardheaded, sis,” Tucker said. “Give the poor woman a break.”
“Why should I?” Daisy asked with a touch of defiance.
“Because you were as close as sisters once,” Tucker reminded her, then added softly, “and because I asked you to.”
“Only because you’re not thinking straight,” King said.
“That’s a matter of opinion,” Tucker responded. “So, whose idea was this ambush? Yours, Daisy? You didn’t get your fill of bugging me this morning? Daddy usually prefers to schedule this sort of thing for his own turf.”
“Don’t blame any of this on your sister,” King scolded. “It’s your doing and nobody else’s that all of us are out later than we’d like to be.”
“Then go home,” Tucker suggested. “I can live without having this conversation. You’ve said it all before anyway.”
“I’m not leaving till I’ve said my piece and you’ve listened to it,” King said.
“Like I said, you’ve made your opinion plain.”
“Not plain enough, apparently. You’re still mixed up with that woman.”
“I’m not ‘mixed up with her,’ as you so eloquently put it. Mary Elizabeth is in a little trouble. I’m helping her out. I’ve said that so many times, I thought for sure even someone as thickheaded as you would have gotten the message by now.”
“You make it sound as if she got a parking ticket,” King snapped irritably. “The woman’s under suspicion of murdering her husband. I would think that would give even you, her faithful defender, pause.”
“She didn’t do it,” Tucker said. “Not even Walker believes she did it.”
“The two of you know that for a fact?” King shot back.
“Yes,” Tucker said. “I do. And so do you. Mary Elizabeth would never intentionally hurt someone.”
“She hurt you bad enough,” his father reminded him.
“That’s old news,” Tucker said. “And hardly the same thing.”
“Is it really?” King said with an edge of sarcasm.
“Okay, that’s enough,” Daisy said, scowling at Tucker. “You’re wasting your breath, Daddy. Whether we understand it or not, I’m sure Tucker is doing what he thinks is best. Nothing we say is going to change his mind. In fact, he’s just more likely to dig in his heels to defy us.”
Tucker couldn’t stop the grin that spread across his face. “Daisy, believe it or not, my actions have absolutely nothing at all to do with any of you. I’m doing what’s right, what you’d want me to do for any one of you if you landed in a similar mess.”
“Oh, hogwash! Right for whom?” King demanded. “Is it right for Mary Elizabeth to come back here and stir things up?”
“This is her home,” Tucker pointed out. “When she ended her marriage, where else should she have gone? And you can’t blame her because a killer snuck into her house and killed her husband while she was out, can you?” He scowled at his still-silent brother. “What about you, Bobby? Do you have an opinion about this you’d like to share?”
“Nope,” Bobby said cheerfully. “I’m just along for the ride.”
King scowled at his younger son. “Dammit, boy, I was counting on you to tell Tucker that what he’s doing is crazy.”
“I don’t know what he’s doing,” Bobby pointed out reasonably. “Neither do you, for that matter. Maybe we ought to ask.”
King frowned. “Okay, I’m asking. What are you up to with that Chandler woman?”
Tucker held onto his temper by a thread. “When did she become ‘that Chandler woman’? She used to sit around our table for Sunday dinner. You and her granddaddy were friends. You used to fish together.”
“And then she dropped you like a hot potato when she thought something better had come along,” King said bitterly. “Nobody treats a member of my family like that and gets away with it.”
“I think that’s for me to decide,” Tucker said. “What are you really so upset about, anyway? Is it because I’m helping Mary Elizabeth out of a jam, or is it that you’re afraid I’m falling in love with her again?”
King looked as if he’d swallowed a fly and was about to choke on it. “Don’t even say that,” he ordered, as if Tucker had uttered a blasphemy.
“Well, guess what, Daddy? I never stopped loving her. Now, go home, old man. It’s been a long day and I’m tired.”
It was plain that his declaration had shaken both his father and his sister, but Bobby shot a warning look at Daisy that kept her silent. Naturally King wasn’t as prudent.
“I’m going,” King said, standing up. “But not before I say one last thing.”
“As long as it is the last thing you say on this subject,” Tucker warned.
King shook a finger under his nose. “You watch your step, Tucker. She used you before. She’ll use you again. And the rest of us will be left to pick up the pieces, same as before.”
Tucker sighed as his family left. It wasn’t as if that were the first time that thought had occurred to him. Sadly, his heart didn’t seem to give a damn about the risks.
Liz faced the prospect of another idle day with nothing but her own troubled thoughts for company and concluded that she’d probably tear her hair out. She needed to be doing something, anything, to help her own cause. That meant talking to Selena.
Okay, Tucker had said it was a bad idea, and she really did hate to go against his wishes when things between them were just getting back on an even keel, but it wasn’t his life on the line. At least that was how she justified setting off for Richmond shortly after 9:00 a.m. Besides, who would think twice about her turning up at the Chandler offices? She could be there to see any one of dozens of people. If she happened to bump into Selena, well, that was pure luck.
Even so, she parked down the block, plunked a wide-brimmed straw hat on her head, hurried down the street and slipped in the employees’ entrance in the back. Proud of her evasive tactic, she took the elevator to the executive suite, removed the hat and ruffled her hair, then looked up and straight into Tucker’s amused gaze.
“Well, hell,” she murmured, trying not to notice how totally masculine he looked in his snug, worn jeans and white polo shirt. His tan had deepened in recent days, making his eyes appear even bluer than normal. “What are you doing here?”
“Darlin’, I’ve known you forever. I knew you’d never be able to resist coming to Richmond to talk to Selena.”
“You could have saved me the drive and picked me up,” she grumbled.
His grin spread. “I thought I’d let you have your fun. Sneaking around was always great sport to you. I never did believe your grandfather objected to the time we spent together. I was always convinced you just liked slipping out a window late at night to meet me by the river.”
“So what? You have to admit that the fear of discovery added a certain thrill to our meetings.”
“I was thrilled enough when we met in plain sight,” Tucker insisted.
She frowned at the comment, then asked, “So, are we going or staying?”
“Now that is a quandary,” he conceded. “I did promise Walker that I’d steer clear of Selena.”
“But I didn’t,” Liz said, sensing an opening. “I could go on in and pick up a few papers, see how she’s acting. I don’t have to cross-examine her.” She regarded him hopefully. “Well?”
“Can you make it sound credible? Are there papers you need?”
“The incorporation papers,” she said at once. “We know they’re in the safe. And I could tell her that the lawyers want to see how things get divvied up in the event of the death of one of the partners.”
“The lawyers would probably know that,” Tucker pointed out.
“Just say you want to know, so you can make sure everything is handled the way Larry would have wanted it.”
Liz knew then that she had won. “She’ll buy that. She thought all of us lived to do whatever Larry wanted.”
“All right, then, let’s do it,” Tucker said, turning toward Larry’s office.
Liz balked. “You can’t come in with me. It will make her suspicious.”
“And I’m not letting you go in there alone,” he responded calmly. “Besides, you need a cop’s perspective on her behavior.”
She supposed she could see the value of that. “But you can’t tip her off that you’re a cop,” she said thoughtfully. “I’ll tell her you’re just a friend who drove me down.”
He regarded her with amusement. “The strong, silent type, huh?”
She patted his arm. “You’ll be good at it. Besides, once she gets a look at those biceps, she won’t be interested in your brain, anyway.”
He laughed. “Is that what drew you to me?”
“Twenty years ago, you didn’t have biceps or much of a brain, Tucker, but I loved you, anyway.”
“Why?”
“Because you had character.”
He shook his head. “Just what every man wants to hear.”
“Don’t knock it. Besides, the brains and biceps effect kicked in later.”
“How reassuring. Let’s go, before I get all weak-kneed,” he said.
Liz walked into the reception area for the executive suite, waved a greeting at Barb Prescott, who was on the phone, and went into Larry’s outer office. Selena’s head snapped up from the papers she was feeding into a shredder. Alarm flared in her dark eyes. Liz walked over and gently removed the remaining pages from her hand.
“Anything important?” she inquired sweetly.
“Just some old documents we no longer need,” Selena said without missing a beat, but, fingers visibly trembling, she nervously brushed a strand of stylishly cut black hair away from her cheek. “I didn’t expect to see you down here. I thought you were living in Trinity Harbor now.”
“I am,” Liz said distractedly, while scanning the pages she’d saved from destruction. She repeated the request she and Tucker had agreed to, asking for the incorporation papers. “Would you mind getting them for me?”
Along Came Trouble Page 22
