by Robin Perini
Madison blinked up at him. She couldn’t see his face any longer. Her head flopped over. She saw only her sister.
She hummed a few bars of “Puff the Magic Dragon.”
Riley lay still as death.
The world faded to black.
Madison didn’t want to wake up. She prayed she never would.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
“Madison!” Riley shot straight up in bed, her heart thudding against the wall of her chest, each beat racing through her mind. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
“Shh. It was just a dream.” Thayne wrapped his arms around her and stroked her back in long, rhythmic circles.
At first Riley pushed at his chest, wanting to escape, but he refused to let her go; he just held her tighter.
The dim light from the propped-open bathroom door allowed her to see his face. And him to see hers. He cupped her cheeks and wiped away the tears with his thumbs.
“Madison’s abduction wasn’t your fault,” he said softly.
“You don’t know,” Riley whispered. “I’ve gone over that night in my mind so many times. I should have screamed, but I stayed quiet, just like he ordered me to. I let my sister be taken by a madman, and I did nothing to stop it.”
“You were ten years old. What would you tell a victim’s sister in the same circumstances?”
Riley closed her eyes against the truth. “Damn you.”
“Be kind to that ten-year-old child who lost her sister. She deserves it.”
Riley blinked once, then again. She wouldn’t cry. She couldn’t make herself weak or vulnerable to anyone. She clenched her fists against his chest.
She tried to avert her gaze from the tenderness in his eyes, but he refused to let her. Silent and still, he stared at her, unyielding. They lay together, bodies a whisper away from each other. She breathed in, and his scent wafted over her. He smelled so good. Her heart slammed against her chest. Her hands unfurled against his bare skin.
His eyes darkened, and his nostrils flared.
Desire. This she understood.
She clasped the back of his head and pulled his lips to hers. The passion between them exploded. She could feel his hardening desire, but before they lost themselves, he wrenched back.
“I want more,” he whispered. “More than we shared in this bed a year ago; more than all the phone calls; more than the most erotic dreams. I want it all, Riley. I know that now.”
“I thought I was enough.” She couldn’t keep the hurt from her voice.
“You’re enough, Riley, but I want everything, with nothing held back. We keep telling each other it’s not the right time, not the right place, but will it ever be? I’m tired of waiting for the right moment. Brett Riverton taught me that lesson today. Now is the time. This is the place.” He stared unblinking into her eyes. “I love you, Riley Lambert. With all of me.”
She could never have imagined hearing the words Thayne spoke. Not for her.
He loved her? Her gaze shifted from his.
“Look at me,” he growled. “Don’t hide. Not anymore, because I’m not. I want a Blackwood kind of love. I want everything you are.”
Thayne lifted her chin with his finger.
“When your parents called and I saw your face, I hurt for you. I wanted to wrap you in my arms and protect you from a past I could do nothing about. When you went into Cheyenne’s office and saw the crime scene with new eyes, I was in awe of your ability. You have a gift that I don’t fully comprehend, but more than that, I witnessed your heart, your compassion. You represent the victims who can’t speak. You put all your energy, everything you have, into finding my sister.
“You’re special, Riley. And if you give me half a chance, I think we could find the love my parents had, the love my grandparents have.” He bent down, his lips hovering just above hers. “Accept my love, Riley. Let me show you how it could be between us. Not just with passion. With tenderness. In good times. And in bad. No matter what. Unconditional, never-ending. Forever.”
A shuddering breath expelled from her lungs. He was offering her everything she’d been afraid to dream of, and she wanted to feel an emotion she’d never believed possible.
With a trembling hand, she touched his cheek. His eyes burned hot with need, making it hard to breathe. Her heart raced even faster. The emotions that had been threatening to overwhelm her erupted with terrifying strength, washing through her mind and soul, destroying the walls she’d erected to protect herself from the hurt and the pain, laying her open and vulnerable.
She should be terrified, but when Thayne held her, she felt safe and whole. He evoked something rare and precious she’d thought had been crushed a long time ago. Faith and trust.
Sinking into the pillow, Riley gazed up into his eyes. They crinkled at the corner with a smile.
Ever so slowly, he lowered his head, his lips barely brushing across hers. Her mouth tingled; her breath caught in her throat. She licked her lips.
A groan rumbled in his chest. “Do you accept my love?”
She closed her eyes and nodded.
“Can you give me your love in return? All your love, all your faith, all your heart?”
She froze in his arms.
Riley had no doubt that she wanted Thayne or that she needed him. He could very well be the best person she knew. How could she not love a man who danced the waltz with his grandmother just to calm her?
When was the last time someone had believed in her and her abilities as much as Thayne? She didn’t believe in herself that much.
What he asked was impossible. Wasn’t it? Love didn’t just go on forever. People fell out of love all the time. Love had conditions. What were Thayne’s?
He sighed, long and slow. “You don’t have to answer yet,” he said, stroking his fingertip down her arm, eliciting a shiver from her. “Someday I hope you will.”
Riley looked up at him, tears clinging to her eyelashes. “I can’t . . . I don’t know how to be what you want.”
“I just want you.” He tucked her against his body. “I’m all in with you, Riley. I’m seizing the moment and jumping in with both feet. I can wait.”
The August dawn sprinkled in through the curtains. The bed was cool. Thayne reached out across the mattress.
Riley was gone.
He propped himself up, listening for the shower. He heard nothing.
He padded across the bedroom and gently opened the bathroom door. A slight hint of steam lingered on the mirror’s edge, but she was nowhere to be seen.
He looked at the bedside table. A small scrap of paper was propped against a cup of coffee. He picked up the note.
Gone to sheriff’s office.
His attention turned to the plate beside the cup. One half of a cinnamon roll.
Thayne bit into the gift with a small smile. They’d shared the gooey treat together most mornings during their first week together. She’d remembered.
It gave him hope. Riley was a woman who had sacrificed her life to protect others, who had sacrificed her dreams to heal her family. Who would stop at nothing to finish what she’d started. It was one of the reasons he’d fallen in love with her in the first place. Which was why she’d left. But she hadn’t forgotten.
With a quick prayer they would find his sister alive and well today, Thayne dressed quickly. He studied himself in the mirror. The SEAL still existed beneath the deputy’s uniform, but right now he was needed here.
He strode down the B&B steps.
Fannie poked her head through the kitchen door. “Could you watch for Kade? He didn’t come home last night.”
“Sure thing.” Thayne nodded over his shoulder.
Within five minutes, he’d arrived at the sheriff’s office and walked in the door. Ironcloud gave him a quick nod, still watching over Riley.
She was in the conference room, deep in conversation with Agent Nolan. He headed toward them when his phone buzzed. He looked at the screen in surprise. “Blackwood. What’s up, Wolf?”
“I appreciate the thought, but that’s not why you called, Commander.”
Wolf sighed. “They want a decision on re-upping. We’ve got a long-term op to prepare for, and they want me to finalize my team.”
“You want my decision now? When would I have to report?”
“Three days.”
“Three days?” Thayne repeated the impossible date.
A voice behind him gasped. Thayne turned. Riley had walked out of the conference room. Her face had paled.
He stared into her eyes. “I can’t make that decision with my sister missing. If they won’t give me more time, I’ll have to go for retirement.”
“I don’t want to lose you,” Wolf said. “I’ll see what I can do.”
Thayne would’ve thought the decision to leave the Navy would be more difficult. “Don’t bother. I have people who need me here, not clear across the world. And I need to be there for them. Put the request through.”
Wolf said nothing for several seconds. “We’ll miss you, Cowboy. I wish I had someone I’d make that decision for. Good luck.”
“Don’t get dead, Wolf.” Thayne ended the call surprisingly serene about the momentous decision.
Riley blinked, her expression stunned. He could tell she wanted to ask questions. They’d have time for talk and more. Later.
“Did Nolan find something?” he prodded.
She shook her head slightly and then refocused. “He discovered only three Cadillacs were identified at the abduction scenes. All different models and colors. It’s a dead end.”
Hell of a way to start the day. “Any good news at all?” Thayne asked with a frown.
“Actually, yes.” She bit her lip, and her brow furrowed.
“You don’t look happy.”
“Because I don’t like what I’m thinking. We ran Gina Wallace’s DNA searching for a potential match with her father. I thought he might be a lead, if not the kidnapper.”
“You found him?” Thayne stood up and motioned his father into the room. His father rushed in and stood by his side.
She shook her head slowly. “The lab discovered something very interesting. Gina Wallace and Brian Anderson are related.”
Thayne steepled his hands beneath his nose as the news settled over him. “How is that possible? I specifically remember reading that Carol had no living relatives in Gina’s file. Gina is alone in the world except for her unknown father.”
“None that we knew of,” Riley corrected. “Until now.” She let out a long, slow breath. “Gina and Brian are half siblings. They share the same father.”
The sheriff’s office went dead silent.
Riley rubbed the back of her neck. “Gina is easy enough to explain. Her mother had a one-night stand with someone who stalked her throughout the years—if we can believe Ed. And I do. Brian is another story altogether. From his file, we discovered he was conceived through in vitro fertilization with a sperm donor.”
“Gina’s one-night stand is Brian’s IVF sperm donor?” Thayne met his father’s stunned gaze as he restated Riley’s pronouncement. “What the hell have we stumbled on?”
“They’re family,” his father said.
“Which explains their similar features.” Thayne walked over to the window of the conference room and scanned from photo to photo to photo the series of images—of very similar images—hanging on the wall.
“And the others on the crime scene board?” his father asked.
Riley leaned back against the wall. She pinched the bridge of her nose. “We discovered that more than half the parents of the victims went through some type of fertility treatment. When I first read the file, it just wasn’t something we believed to be significant in regard to the kidnappings. Now . . . well, Agent Nolan is calling the other parents.”
“This doesn’t explain Cheyenne’s abduction,” Thayne said. “Do you have a theory?”
Riley squirmed under Thayne’s gaze. “She has a similar hair color,” she rushed out.
His father straightened, and Thayne caught the twitch of his right hand and the bristling irritation just beneath the surface. “I don’t know what you think you’re implying, young lady.”
“Look, Sheriff, maybe you’d prefer we discuss this alone . . . ,” Riley suggested gently, her eyes knowing.
Thayne’s father met Riley’s gaze, then he glanced at Thayne. A slight tinge rose in his dad’s cheeks, and he cleared his throat. What exactly had Riley discovered?
“Fine. Lynette and I had trouble conceiving early on. She underwent a small procedure before Hudson was born, but after that, the babies came one after the other.”
How many more secrets that had been forgotten or withheld would they uncover during this investigation? “You never mentioned anything to us,” Thayne said, surprise evident in his voice.
His father shrugged. “It’s not something we discussed with you kids. It didn’t matter. She had some fibroids in her uterus, and Doc removed them. It’s one reason she had a hysterectomy so young.”
Thayne remembered his mother going into the hospital while he was in elementary school.
Riley looked down at her feet. Thayne could tell she really didn’t want to ask flat out.
His father straightened. “Let me be perfectly clear, Special Agent Lambert. Cheyenne is my biological daughter. Her hair color is not a coincidence; she comes by it honestly. From my father. End of story.”
“OK.” Riley obviously didn’t want to argue in public.
But Thayne suspected she’d already requested Cheyenne’s DNA be run, which would be on file since his sister had served in the military.
“I want to run comparisons on as many other kidnap victims as possible,” she said. “All of them have some sort of DNA and fingerprints on file. They were just beginning to be collected as standard operating procedure when Gina and Madison went missing.”
Riley twisted her fingers in her lap and sent Thayne a sidelong glance. “You realize what this could mean? Madison might be my half sister.”
Thayne let out a slow whistle. “Do you think your parents used IVF to conceive?”
She kneaded her temple, and he could see the headache from the previous night returning. “I have absolutely no idea. I’ll have to call my mother. Can I use your office, Sheriff?”
“Of course.” Thayne’s dad cleared his throat. “I’m going to make some coffee. You two want anything?” With the more-than-obvious reason to give Riley some privacy, his father tilted his head toward his office door.
“Please,” Riley said with an appreciative smile. “Black, and as strong as you’ve got.”
“Pendergrass makes coffee that tastes like bad, weak tea. I’ll brew it so hair will grow on your chest.” His father walked toward the coffeemaker, and those in the room dissipated. Several investigators returned to the conference room, but everyone kept glancing back at Riley.
“Do you want to be alone to make the call?” Thayne asked. What a hell of a thing to discuss with parents at all, much less with ones who obviously had difficulty communicating about almost everything.
“Please. Come with me,” she said simply.
A bit stunned at the invitation, Thayne gave her a brief nod, thankful she seemed to want his support.
They strode into his father’s office and closed the door behind them. Thayne hitched his hip on the desk as Riley picked up the receiver and dialed her parents’ number. She placed the call on speakerphone.
“Hello?” a male voice answered.
“Hi, Dad.”
“Riley. This is a surprise. How are you?”
She closed her eyes. “I’m fine.”
“Good, good.” An awkward silence grew longer. Whispers filtered through the phone. “Umm, Riley, are you coming to the memorial?” he asked, clearly uncomfortable.
More sharp whispers that Thayne couldn’t quite decipher hissed from the speaker.
“The entire
town expects you to attend.”
Laying the guilt on a bit thick. Obviously Riley’s mother was behind the questions. Riley’s family dynamics were so . . . bizarre . . . compared to the Blackwoods’. His family had to have come as quite a shock. This conversation explained so many of her comments about his family that he hadn’t quite understood.
Now he did. The Blackwoods must have seemed like another species.
Riley cleared her throat. “Probably. Umm . . . there’s been some information related to Madison’s case that’s come to light. Can I speak with Mother?”
“Adrienne!” her father called out. “Get on the other line. Riley has news.”
“Really, Alan, do you have to shout?” Mrs. Lambert’s voice came through the phone. “So, Riley. You finally have some information for us?”
Thayne wanted to reach through the phone and strangle the woman. Riley met his gaze and shrugged as if to say, Yep, this is where I came from. She could’ve picked up the phone or asked him to leave, but she didn’t. She was allowing him to see her family up close and personal. Warts and all.
Thayne reached his hand to her and squeezed, giving her a supportive smile that he hoped told her it didn’t matter or change how he felt about her.
Holding his gaze with hers, Riley took in a deep breath and cleared her throat. “Mother, did you ever go to a fertility clinic?”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Riley’s chest closed off as if she were in a vise. She squeezed Thayne’s hand, thankful he’d stayed and her family hadn’t scared him off.
“Yes, we did,” her father said. “We conceived Madison shortly after your mother starting receiving hormone treatments. She was a wonderful surprise. As were you. Why are you asking?”
Oh God. She couldn’t believe she had to push her parents. “Mother?” Riley asked. “Is that how you remember it?”
“This is private medical information and none of your concern.” Her mother’s sharp staccato voice was colder than usual.
