Sultry

by Mary Lynn Baxter

But that didn’t matter. What did matter was Tim’s reaction to her presence. If she hadn’t already known her brother was guilty, she knew it now.

  He stood wild-eyed, like a deer caught in the headlights of a car. Her daddy wasn’t faring much better, though for a different reason. His features were ashen, like something had ravaged his body.

  “Oh, God, Lindsay,” Tim said in a choked voice, tears running down his face.

  Lindsay didn’t respond. Instead, she walked over to her brother, reached up and slapped him on the face.

  “Why, you—you—” Tim cried in an astonished voice.

  Mitch uncoiled his muscles and stepped forward. “You’d best watch what you say to your sister.”

  Tim didn’t react to Mitch’s warning. He only had eyes for Lindsay. “Sis, I didn’t mean—”

  “Shut your mouth!” Cooper blasted his words into the calm night air, shattering it.

  Lindsay’s jaw sagged.

  Mitch swore.

  Tim looked dumbfounded.

  “Don’t say another word,” Cooper added. “And for God’s sake, stop that sniveling and behave like a man.”

  Lindsay didn’t look at Mitch. She couldn’t and still keep her bearings about her. But she felt his eyes on her, delving into her soul, monitoring her every move.

  “How could you, Tim?” Lindsay whispered.

  Tim cut his eyes at Cooper, then back to her, lifting his chin a notch higher. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I didn’t do anything.”

  “Bullshit!” Mitch’s choice word hit like another explosive.

  “For the last time, Rawlins, get out of my face and off my property,” Cooper demanded, his features pinched.

  “I’m not going anywhere until this is settled,” Mitch responded, rage vibrating in his voice. “I’m not about to let you use your name and influence to sweep Timmy-boy’s dirty dealings under the rug so his ass can walk free.”

  Cooper shook a finger in Mitch’s face. “You fuck with me, Rawlins, and I’ll ruin you.”

  “Your threats don’t bother me, Cooper. Tim is guilty as hell of selling drugs off the black market, and I’m going to see that he pays.” Mitch looked at Lindsay. “How ’bout you? Are you with me?”

  “Leave my daughter out of this,” Cooper injected loudly.

  “Lindsay?”

  Mitch’s low, throaty tone drew her to him. Their eyes locked for a long moment—his probing, searching. Pale and trembling, Lindsay suddenly jerked her gaze off him and onto Cooper.

  However, her daddy wasn’t looking at her. He was watching Mitch with disdain. “When are you going to stop living in that dream world? My daughter’s not going anywhere with you. I didn’t raise a fool. She knows where her bread is buttered.”

  “Daddy, we have to talk.”

  “Atta girl,” Cooper said triumphantly. “I knew you’d see things my way.”

  “Look, Lindsay,” Mitch said, walking toward her, his eyes pleading now.

  “Please,” she said in a shaky voice, dividing her attention between him and her brother. “Both of you leave. What I have to say is between Daddy and me.”

  Mitch didn’t make a suitable comeback, but he didn’t need to. She knew he was furious as well as hurt, thinking that she’d chosen Cooper over him. She hadn’t, but now was not the time to try to make him understand that. She was on a mission, and she had to see it through.

  She would make her peace with Mitch later, and she prayed that it wouldn’t be too late. She waited in silence while Mitch stalked down the porch steps and Tim scurried into the house.

  Once she and Cooper were alone, her daddy took a deep breath and blew it out. “Thank God you came to your senses.”

  “Is that all you have to say?”

  Cooper gave her a puzzled look. “I think that pretty much sums it up.”

  “Oh, Daddy, you really don’t get it, do you?”

  Her words obviously hit their mark, for he winced visibly, and his mouth stretched into a thin line. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Oh, yes, you do.”

  “I’m tired of playing your little games.”

  “All right. I’ll lay all my cards on the table.”

  “Please do,” Cooper said in a cool tone.

  “It’s over, Daddy. Your reign over me is through.”

  He looked blank. “You’re still not making any sense.”

  “I thought we weren’t going to play games.”

  “Will you stop talking in riddles, girl!” Cooper’s Adam’s apple was working overtime. “My patience is gone.”

  “So is mine,” Lindsay pointed out calmly. “First off, Tim is guilty as charged.”

  He sputtered, “You don’t believe that. It’s Rawlins. Why, that bastard’s turned you against your own family. Well, I won’t have it. You stop talking like that right now, you hear?”

  “No, I won’t. From now on, I’m going to say exactly what I please.”

  “Now, see here, young lady!”

  “That’s what I’m talking about, Daddy!” Her voice was anguished now. “To you, I’m not a person. I’m a robot who’s supposed to think and feel on command from you.”

  “All I’ve ever wanted was the best for you, Lindsay.”

  “Oh, Daddy, Daddy, that’s the last thing you ever wanted.” Tears filled her eyes. “It’s your wants and needs that have always ruled this household.”

  “I disagree,” Cooper said harshly. “All I’ve ever done is love my family.”

  Lindsay was tempted to laugh. Love. He didn’t know the meaning of that word, but she wasn’t going to tell him that. He wouldn’t believe her, anyway. Their definitions of love were worlds apart. And though that truth broke her heart, she couldn’t let that stop her from finally asserting her independence and making a new life for herself apart from him.

  “That’s why I won’t have you ruining your brother by believing this absurd garbage Rawlins is spitting out,” Cooper said into the lengthening silence. “Granted, he’s upset that you lost the baby, but—”

  “Tim is guilty, Daddy.”

  Her firm but soft words stopped him cold. Yet he rallied and demanded in a fierce tone, “Prove it.”

  Wordlessly, Lindsay reached for her purse, then pulled out the ledger and handed it to him. “See for yourself.”

  Moments later, Cooper raised eyes that seemed to have sunk far back in his head. For a second Lindsay felt sorry for him. But she didn’t dare show those feelings, for fear he would use them against her.

  “What are you going to do?” he asked without emotion.

  “What’s right. And you’re going to have to accept some unpleasant realities. One, your son will be held accountable, which will most likely cause him to lose his medical license.”

  Cooper cursed.

  She ignored those choice words and went on, about to say all the things that had been in her heart for so many years—horrible things that had been stored in the dark. “You also have to accept the fact that I, like Mother, have a problem with depression. While I’m not proud of that, I’m no longer ashamed, either. But you are, Daddy. And because of your feelings, I’ve harbored that shame all my life. I know Mother felt much the same way.”

  “You don’t know a damn thing about your mother.”

  “I know that you hurt her terribly with your stable of women.”

  Cooper laughed an ugly laugh. “Is that what she told you?”

  Lindsay felt herself color. “No, but I read a letter to her best friend—a letter that Mother never mailed.”

  “And what exactly did that letter say?”

  “That…that you were driving her crazy because of what you were doing to her, and that she was so depressed she didn’t want to live.”

  Cooper laughed again.

  “How dare you?” Lindsay cried.

  He loomed over her. “I dare because it’s your mother who had the affair. It’s your mother who had the lover!”

  Lindsay stagger
ed back, her eyes wide with shock. “I don’t believe you.”

  “Well, it’s the truth,” he muttered bitterly. “She humiliated me, and I couldn’t forgive her for that.”

  “As a result, you became her judge and jury. You sentenced her and punished her.”

  “You’re damn right, I did. She begged for a divorce, but I wouldn’t give her one.”

  “And that’s why she killed herself,” Lindsay murmured, more to herself than to him.

  “She was always despondent, even before she had the affair. I never found the key that opened your mother.”

  “I’m not excusing what she did. It was wrong. But I’m not excusing you, either. When I look back on things, you never tried to work it out. You made her feel ashamed and dirty for who she was and how she felt. You’re doing the same thing with me.”

  “Lindsay, I—”

  “Let me finish.” Now that she had started, she couldn’t seem to stop. It was as though her heart had been given permission to speak its mind. “I may never forgive you for attempting to bribe Peter into marrying me for fear my mental instability would keep me from finding a suitable husband.”

  Cooper suddenly looked tired and old. “How did you know?”

  “I overheard you and Peter talking.”

  “All right. I admit to doing what I thought was best for you. Maybe it wasn’t, but Rawlins isn’t it, either. I’ll stake everything I have on that.”

  “I love Mitch.”

  “I refuse to believe that. He’s brainwashed you.”

  Undaunted, Lindsay shrugged. “If that’s what you choose to think, then so be it.”

  Cooper spread his hands. “Look, let’s call a truce, shall we? It’s not too late to rethink the situation, especially when it comes to Tim. What’s the advantage of exposing him, when the ultimate goal is to stop the distribution of the inferior drugs? I assure you I’ll take care of that.”

  “It’s because of those drugs that I lost my baby.”

  “Turning Tim in won’t bring it back.”

  Lindsay merely shook her head. “As I said earlier, you just don’t get it. And that’s sad, Daddy, really sad—” Her voice broke. “I pity you.”

  “I don’t want your pity,” he spat, and sank into the nearest chair.

  “I intend to give the ledger to Mitch—who, by the way, is not the lower-class person you thought him to be.” She paused deliberately. “He’s an ex-FBI agent with plenty of connections and pull.”

  Cooper drew in a shocked breath, then stared at her. He was still staring at her when she turned and walked off the porch.

  His insides were churning, and he’d never been more frustrated in his life. Would Lindsay ever come to her senses and see Cooper as the manipulator he was? Or had Mitch just handed Lindsay back to her daddy on a silver platter, losing Tim’s ass, to boot?

  Mitch was afraid to answer either of those hard-hitting questions, but he had no choice. He couldn’t ignore the facts as they stood. Lindsay had given him the heave-ho, siding with her daddy, which told him that their marriage was over. His gut twisted.

  Not a good day.

  Mitch stopped his pacing, then resumed it. He couldn’t be still. Hell, he couldn’t even drink a beer. He had tried and nearly choked on it. Talk about fucked up.

  Hell, they’d never had a real marriage, anyway. In one respect Cooper was right. He had kidded himself into a false belief that Lindsay loved him, or at least cared enough to try to make a life with him.

  But he’d been wrong, and that ripped him to pieces. He truly didn’t know how he would survive without her. Any minute now, Cooper would have him thrown off the property. He was surprised the man hadn’t already sent someone to do just that. Let ’em come. He would go peacefully. If Lindsay didn’t want him, then he didn’t want her.

  Liar.

  As long as he took a breath, he would never not want her.

  At first he didn’t realize the sound he heard was someone knocking. He’d been too absorbed in his own misery. Finally, though, it dawned on him that he had a visitor, unwanted or not.

  He strode to the door and jerked it open.

  “May I come in?” Lindsay asked in a small voice.

  Thirty-Eight

  “Of course you can come in,” Mitch responded in a strangled tone. God, he couldn’t believe she was actually standing on his porch, staring up at him with those big, sad eyes.

  He ached to jerk her into his arms, to bury his head in her soft hair and lose himself in the smell that was so uniquely hers. Under the circumstances, he was afraid such a bold gesture would drive her farther away, not to mention the fact that she would probably slug him.

  Even though she was here, which was a miracle in itself, there remained no doubt whose side she was on. He struggled to contain the bitterness festering inside him and pull himself together enough to make coherent conversation. If not, she might change her mind and disappear.

  No matter how she felt, his feelings for her had not changed. He realized that more than ever.

  “Mitch?”

  “Uh, sorry,” he said, moving aside so she could walk past him.

  Once she reached the middle of the small living area, he could hear his heart beating at such a rapid rate that he felt certain she could hear it, too. He took a deep breath, hoping to slow it down.

  He had to get a grip. But he couldn’t get past the idea that she was there to end it all, to tell him to go take a flying leap, to say she was sticking by her daddy and her brother. He didn’t think he could handle it. Just the thought made him crazy.

  “I have something for you,” Lindsay said, again in that small voice.

  He sensed she was as uncertain as he was, as skittish as a newborn colt. But he could be wrong. Unfortunately, he knew her body much better than he did her mind, which was not a plus for either of them. If only he could get the chance to know her better.

  “What is it?” he asked, unable to take his eyes off her, determined to memorize every lovely detail, in case he never saw her again.

  She cocked her head, a frown marring her lineless forehead. “Are you all right?”

  Hell, no, I’m not all right, he wanted to shout. I’m anything but all right. “I’m okay. How ’bout you?”

  She parted her lips with a flick of that tiny tongue with which he so loved to play erotic tug-of-war. He groaned silently.

  “I’m okay, too,” she replied in a halting voice, staring up at him through dark, shadowed eyes.

  For a heartbeat, Mitch almost lost his resolve and took her into his arms. He wanted her so badly, he could taste it. Taste her.

  “So what is it?” He shifted his position so as to put more distance between them. In his state of mind and body, he didn’t trust himself. This moment in time, with everything hanging in the balance, was suddenly precious, to be eked out, to be coveted.

  “This,” she whispered, digging in her shoulder bag, then holding out what looked to be some kind of book.

  “What is it?” he asked again, reaching for the book, careful not to touch her hands, fearing one spark of her skin would ignite that smoldering fire inside him and force him to do something he would most likely regret.

  “It’s Tim’s ledger.”

  Mitch frowned. “But how…? I mean…?” Words failed him.

  She half smiled at his attempts to complete a sentence. But that smile was short-lived. “It tells you more than you want to know about Tim’s involvement in the black market drug business.”

  Mitch stared at her in stunned amazement. “Why?”

  “Why what?”

  “Why are you giving it to me?”

  Lindsay shrugged her slender shoulders. “It’s simple. It’s the right thing to do.”

  “Is that the only reason?” He didn’t know why he asked that, nor did he know exactly what he expected her to say. The words seemed to have flown unbidden out of his mouth.

  Her response was quick. “Daddy’s no longer in charge of me or my life.”


  For a moment Mitch was too overwhelmed by the various emotions that attacked him from every conceivable side to respond. In fact, his body felt like a war zone. He’d had no idea what he’d expected, but he hadn’t expected that.

  What did it mean in terms of them, of their future? He was afraid to speculate or ask, for fear of what the answer would be.

  “You’re shocked, aren’t you?” Lindsay asked.

  “Yeah, I am.”

  “While I had the stamina and wherewithal to go for it, I got a lot of other things off my chest that had been there for a long time.”

  “Such as?”

  She didn’t hesitate. “Tim, of course. And my mother.”

  “What about her?” Mitch asked gently.

  “According to Daddy, she was unfaithful—she had an affair.”

  He was shocked, but didn’t show it. “So how do you feel about that?”

  “Terrible for both of them.”

  “But you have to let your pain go.”

  “I know,” Lindsay said. “There’s no way I can fix what was broken.”

  “No, you can’t, my darling.” Mitch was quiet for a moment, then added, “I can imagine how Cooper took your sudden show of force.”

  “Not well, if that’s what you were thinking.”

  A sudden silence ensued, during which their eyes met and held. Mitch struggled just to get a decent breath, still tempted to grab her and kiss her—and to hell with the consequences.

  “So how did you get the ledger?” he asked, forcing his mind off the ache in his heart and onto business.

  “I went to Tim’s office.”

  An uneasy feeling snaked through him. “Where he just handed it over to you?”

  “Of course not.”

  “How did you get it, then?” he pressed, his uneasiness mounting.

  “I found it in his desk.”

  Since her eyes no longer met his, Mitch sided with his gut instinct, which told him she wasn’t telling him the whole truth. He voiced his thought. “So your brother wasn’t there?”

  She gnawed on her plump lower lip, a gesture that roused his jealousy. He should be the one gnawing on it. Another silent groan rocked him.

  “Not at first,” she admitted.

  “What does that mean?” he asked in a sharp tone, then regretted it. Because he wanted to hold her so badly but was afraid of driving her away, he felt as if he were walking on shattered glass.