The way Rosa spat out the man’s name made Susan wonder what he could possibly have done to have gotten so firmly entrenched on Rosa’s bad side. She soon heard more on the subject as the housekeeper chopped up onions and Dorian’s moral fiber with equal relish. Apparently when Dorian had first arrived in town, Seb had taken him into his own home until he could find something suitable in town. According to Rosa, the man outstayed his welcome the very first week and stayed on way past any respectable amount of time to get his feet under him.
Susan didn’t dare ask what the religiously devout older woman thought of her living arrangement with Seb. Although Rosa never made mention of it, Susan suspected her beliefs were quite similar to those her own parents held so dear. All those Sundays they’d dragged their boisterous brood to church hadn’t been just because they liked getting all dressed up once a week.
Susan kept on peeling the potatoes without adding much other than her presence to the conversation.
“Thought I should wait on him hand and foot, that one did,” Rosa continued her tirade against Seb’s half brother. “Acted like he was entitled to everything Sebastian has worked his whole life to build up and overcome just because his daddy planted seeds in every field he passed. You look close and you’ll see jealousy in Dorian’s eyes that no amount of charity is going to wipe away. Mark my words, he fancies himself the lord of the manor. I told Sebastian that it wasn’t his responsibility to pay for his father’s mistakes, but that boy doesn’t listen any better now than when he was twelve. He’s headstrong, all right, but you won’t find a man with a truer heart anywhere. He’ll make some woman a fine husband some day.”
Ignoring the sidelong glance Rosa shot her way, Susan pretended to focus all her attention on the growing mound of potato peelings. The dear woman was as subtle as an elephant doing the cakewalk. Still, Susan couldn’t help but love her in spite of her meddling nature. Though Susan herself had quickly become disenchanted with Dorian, she couldn’t imagine what he had done to make someone as kindhearted as Rosa so thoroughly dislike him.
“Just as soon as this case is put to bed and Seb’s cleared of all charges, I expect the two of you will start making plans. I do hope they include having children.”
The potato peeler clattered into the sink. Red-faced, Susan mumbled something about not being able to stand the heat as she hastened to get the heck out of the kitchen.
The Wescott estate was awash in the colors of spring. Susan found the humble crab-apple trees the most striking as she took a walk with the intention of clearing her head. They reminded her of prim old ladies, who, though plain and proper most of the year, donned bonnets of shocking purple, hoping to outdo one another at Eastertime. All too soon a big wind was bound to strip them of their glory, but for an instant the splendor of youth was upon them.
Walking hand in hand with Seb through the well-tended grounds, Susan felt a serenity that was rare in her hectic lifestyle. The weather was becoming warm enough that most days a sweater could be substituted for a heavier jacket. It hadn’t taken Susan long to discover that getting used to this way of life was a whole lot easier than she thought. Six days out of seven Rosa prepared delicious, wholesome meals, and Seb took particular delight in barbecuing on her day off. Though Susan protested that she was gaining weight, the truth was, she had never looked better in her life.
She found herself looking forward to sharing the day’s events with Seb every evening when he returned home from work. Daily walks and creative excursions provided time to unwind. Susan had not known it possible to feel so comfortable and fulfilled in a relationship. Had it not been for the ghastly accusation hanging over them like a gathering storm, life would have been nothing short of perfect.
Susan hesitated to bring up anything that would ruin their idyllic outing, but there was little point in postponing the inevitable. Earlier in the day she had spoken to a friend at the county attorney’s office, who told her that while not airtight, the case they were building against Susan’s client was sound enough to warrant taking it to the grand jury. If Seb didn’t stop sidestepping her inquiries about the night in question, Susan held out little hope that she could keep him from an indictment. For all the boldness he displayed regarding his faith in her abilities, she hoped this news would shake him from his sense of blithe optimism.
She pulled Seb off the path and over to a picturesque bench. “We need to talk,” she told him as he took a seat beside her. “Look, I know you’re under the belief that you can’t be indicted on circumstantial evidence alone and that because you’re innocent, justice will automatically prevail. I hate to be the one to tell you this, but that isn’t always the case. To be blunt, things are looking pretty bleak as far as your case is concerned. Aside from that questionable e-mail sent under your name, the recent discovery of money being funneled into a private account in your name is more than enough to warrant an indictment.”
Seb refused to believe it. “Why can’t anyone see I’m being framed? Don’t you think the fact that my own investigator turned up that juicy little bit of information makes it suspect?”
“It doesn’t matter what I think,” she insisted, doing her best to drive her point home. “As far as I can tell right now, the only thing that will appease the grand jury is a verifiable alibi for you on the night of the murder. I need your help on this. All you’ve told me is that you were out of town. You have to tell me where you were and what you were doing.”
Just as Susan expected, Seb balked at the request. His eyes grew sad and his muscles taut as he responded in the same evasive way he did every time she put the question to him. “I’ve already told you that I’m not at liberty to talk about that night.”
“Why not?” Susan snapped. If she was weary of his sidestepping, she could only imagine what a jury would make of it. “I can’t think of anything so terrible that would be worth your freedom. As your lawyer, I’m bound by law to keep what you tell me confidential, and you have to know I would do absolutely nothing to jeopardize your case. As your lover, I have to tell you I don’t like having secrets between us.”
“I don’t, either,” Seb retorted angrily. “The only thing I like less is feeling I don’t have your trust.”
“That’s not fair,” Susan countered, her own frustration apparent in the way her eyes darkened at the accusation. “Obviously it’s you who doesn’t trust me.”
Tension crackled between them. The issue could no longer be avoided, and neither one wanted to walk away from their first fight without making their individual positions crystal clear. Sunset faded. The sky darkened as twilight settled in around them.
“If I didn’t trust you, would I have made you my lead attorney when I could have hired any criminal lawyer in Texas?”
The point softened Susan. She was truly grateful for the opportunity to represent him, but not so much that she was willing to let him go on disregarding her need for full disclosure. His testimony was crucial; to a jury, it would seem tantamount to a guilty plea to plead the Fifth in a murder case.
“Whatever happened that night, I’d like to think we can work it out together. All I’m asking is for you to put your faith in us—in me.” The intensity of her emotions could not be ignored. She might as well have handed him her heart on a platter.
Sebastian splayed his fingers through his hair, sparking glints of red in the thatch of chestnut brown. “How about you having some faith in me?” His voice sounded equally troubled. “Can’t you believe there are some things worth the sacrifice of one’s personal freedom, or are you actually starting to question my innocence, too, Counselor?”
Susan didn’t answer him right away. She didn’t believe the man with whom she was falling hopelessly in love was capable of cold-blooded murder. Still, she could not understand why he so adamantly refused to provide an alibi for himself. Her mind ran rampant with possibilities. None of them advanced his case—or the possibility of a lasting relationship between the two of them.
She was just abou
t to tell him as much when her worst fears were realized.
A police car pulled into the driveway.
A moment later an officer approached the two of them. “I’m sorry to interrupt your evening, Mr. Wescott but we need you to come down to the station to answer a few more questions.”
“Why?” Susan was quick to ask. “As his lawyer I’d like to know what’s so important that it couldn’t wait until morning.”
The officer shook his head. “I can’t say, other than that new evidence has come to light.”
Taking Seb’s hand into her own, Susan squeezed hard. Whatever her personal doubts might be, it was crucial they present a united front to the law.
“Don’t worry,” she said with a brave, albeit wobbly, smile. “You don’t have to face this alone.”
Nine
Why Susan would be having such an erotic dream on the heels of such a fitful night’s sleep was beyond all understanding, but she wasn’t about to question a good thing, whether in a conscious or unconscious state. It would have been too easy to blame her sensations on the navy satin sheets and chenille bedding that so typified her absent lover: totally masculine in its luxurious indulgence. It was not the bedding, however, that had kept her awake half the night. Funny how in such a short time she had grown so used to sleeping with Seb that falling asleep without him had become nigh onto impossible. A satin pillow made a poor substitute for a warm and willing body.
After accompanying Sebastian downtown to the police station last night, she had remained in his presence throughout the questioning process. She was glad to have been there. Outraged at being hauled into jail for more questioning like some common criminal, he was in no mood to frame his answers in tactful, legally appropriate jargon. More than once, his temper flared.
It was all Susan could do to keep him under control. The timing and antagonistic method that the investigating officer employed was clearly a deliberate tactic intended first to catch her client off guard and then bait him. She cringed when Sebastian flippantly told the man that where he was the night of the murder was none of his damned business. Had she not been there to intervene, Susan suspected Sebastian would be up on charges of assaulting an officer to boot.
His aggressive posturing had done little but reinforce the assertion that he was a dangerous character. In fact, he was so angry by the time the police finished questioning him that Seb had refused to accompany Susan home, saying only that he needed some time alone to think. He’d also refused her offer of help when he told her he was going back to the office to search through his records once more to see if he could figure out how account records for an account he had never set up had been saved in his personal computer files.
Knowing better than to argue with Seb when he was in such a determined mood, Susan had gone back to the house, crawled into a lonesome bed and cried herself to sleep.
None of that mattered at the moment. Not when her dream man was feathering kisses along the nape of her neck. Goose bumps marked his path. Susan was tempted to roll over onto her back and see where that led him, but she didn’t want to risk rousing herself from such a delightful phantasm. The daring fellow stopped only long enough to divest her of her covers before proceeding to trail more kisses down her bare back. Since moving in with Seb, Susan had taken to sleeping in the nude, a fact her fantasy lover seemed to appreciate just as much as his flesh-and-blood counterpart. So vivid was this dream that she thought she even sensed Seb’s distinctive scent in the air. Like him, it was thoroughly masculine and as stimulating as pure musk.
Susan breathed him deeply into her lungs.
A gentle nudge parted her legs. Magic hands rubbed her buttocks with a languid, practiced touch. Lost in hedonistic pleasure, Susan moaned aloud, then gasped as strong fingers slipped inside and turned her to liquid fire. The world began and ended in the secret core of her being.
Throbbing, she dared not pull away from such an exquisite indulgence of her senses. Dream or not, she was slick and ready with wanting and on the verge of achieving a very real climax. A whisper in her ear encouraged her to let go and simply enjoy his gift to her. Burrowing deeper into her pillow, she called out Seb’s name as if hoping to somehow conjure him up from the world of the ethereal to the material.
“I’m right here.”
That voice did not sound at all disembodied and so startled her that Susan felt compelled to lift her head from her pillow. There was no denying that she had been working way too hard lately, but she certainly hadn’t expected her body to respond to the demands she put on it by plunging her so completely into an imaginary world. Not that her hallucinations didn’t beat reality all to pieces.
Susan blinked hard as she propped herself up on her elbows. She wanted with all her might to believe her eyes. Seb was here. Actually and physically present. Stripped down to his bare skin, he was clearly as aroused as she was.
“It’s a good thing you didn’t call out some other man’s name,” he said.
His silver eyes glistened wickedly.
Susan had a million questions she wanted to ask him, but right now she couldn’t think of a single one. Not when her body was begging for release. Seb seemed in no hurry to provide any explanation for his presence, either. He was too intent on the naked woman squirming beneath him.
Grabbing for the bars of the brass headboard, Susan implored him to share her bliss. He needed little coaxing. She whimpered as he lowered his weight on her and the two became one.
That body and soul could meld in such a seamless expression of passion was a source of never-ending wonder to Susan. That the summit was in plain sight made the view nonetheless breathtaking. Tightening her grip on the headboard, Susan let go of all her inhibitions. She had no control over the animallike noises she was making. They sounded foreign and faraway as the passion steadily building in intensity created a roaring in her head that drowned out everything else. Her cries resonated throughout the room as they reached the top together in an explosion that left her trembling.
Carefully removing his weight from her, Sebastian rolled her over and proceeded to kiss her with such tenderness it made tears rise to her eyes.
“I love you,” he said simply.
Teardrops perfect as diamonds rolled down Susan’s face. Wrapping her arms around Seb’s broad shoulders, she held her heart against his so that it seemed they beat as one. Spoken aloud, those words had the capacity to dislodge all of her lingering fears about their relationship being based on sex alone. Those sweet words acted as a magic wand to remove all the obstacles Susan had ever imagined keeping them apart.
“I love you, too,” she whispered fiercely.
Coming from her lips, Susan hoped those same words had the power to dissolve any secrets between them. She could not believe that God would be so cruel as to take this man from her now that she was committed to him both body and soul. Surely love alone could conquer whatever lay ahead of them. Overcome with a feeling of euphoria, she snuggled against Seb’s warm body, drifting back to sleep safe in the circle of his loving arms.
Having been interrupted once before due to bad timing, Susan waited until well after brunch before again broaching the subject of Seb’s failure to provide an alibi. Stepping into his den, she took the phone off the hook and handed him an important-looking document.
“What’s this?” he asked.
Words felt like rocks in her mouth.
“Official notification of your preliminary hearing.”
Seb swore softly. “So it’s actually come to this, has it?” he muttered.
“I’m afraid so.”
As much as she hated breaking such bad news to him, Susan hoped it would at last make him understand the seriousness of his situation. Surely now he would feel compelled to provide her with an alibi for the night of the murder. Whoever or whatever he was protecting was hardly worth the loss of his independence and personal integrity. Committed as they were to each other, Susan expected him to put their relationship before all others. Onc
e this matter was resolved, she assumed that marriage was the next logical step.
Unfortunately Sebastian didn’t see things that way at all.
“I’ve told you over and over again that I can’t tell you about what happened that night, Susan.”
His tone held a note of frustration, and his face took on a stubborn look Susan had come to know only too well. She didn’t bother arguing the merits of her request on the basis of the law. Instead, she addressed him on a far more personal level, not bothering to hide her distress.
“What could possibly be more important than our relationship?” she wanted to know. “Or do you actually expect me to wait for an explanation until you’re released from prison? Do you really think we can pick up our lives twenty some years from now and go on as if nothing ever happened?”
Sorrow settled about Sebastian like a shroud. “No, sweetheart, I most certainly don’t expect anyone as young and beautiful and vibrant as you to waste your life waiting on me. A woman like you deserves to have a normal life and a house full of rowdy kids who absolutely adore their mother and respect their father. If the worst happens and I end up doing time, I want you to pretend you never met me. Though for me, forgetting you would be like forgetting how to breathe—you’re that much a part of who I am.”
Susan wanted to hit him. The man refused to fight fair. Setting aside the tender feelings his words evoked in her, she wound up and gave him her best shot.
“This whole issue is about trust. Lack of trust was what killed my marriage. Joe didn’t trust me to choose my own friends, run my own business or know my own mind. He had no faith in me. He demanded that I check in with him before I went anywhere and report back on any interactions I had outside of his presence. His idea of protecting me was to keep me in the dark about everything from his business transactions to the amount of money available in our checking account to whom he was keeping company with. I get the feeling that your reticence with me is more about your lack of confidence in my skills as an attorney than it is about upholding some secret, sacred honor.”
Tall, Dark...And Framed? Page 9
