by Joanna Neil
She nodded, her features tightening a fraction. ‘Even more so now that my brother-in-law is setting up an office in Key Largo. Grace mentioned that they’re looking to buy a house halfway between there and here, which means we’ll be only a few minutes’ drive from one another.’ She made a restless movement, shifting in her seat. ‘Besides, I don’t want to uproot myself again. There’s been too much upheaval in my life just lately. I’m just beginning to find my feet again.’
She frowned. ‘I don’t know why you keep asking me to sell up. You don’t need this place. It’s just one more prize that you want to add to your collection. It seems to me that it’s all part and parcel of the way you live your life…partying, indulging yourself and living for the moment. You’re used to having everything go your way, and you’re not prepared to let anyone say no to you. You don’t really care about how your wishes affect other people. Well, I’m sorry, Jake, but you’ve lost out this time. This is my house now, and my memories are bound up in it and they are just as important to me as yours are to you. I’m not prepared to give it up.’
‘Is that really how you think of me…as a self-indulgent waster?’ He made a brief grimace, and then studied her thoughtfully for a moment or two. ‘I’d hoped for more, but I guess it isn’t to be.’
She sucked in a deep breath. Had she gone too far? But surely it had to be said? He had to realise once and for all that he couldn’t have his own way. She couldn’t back down.
His expression was a little sad, resigned perhaps, and full of regret. ‘Anyway, I had to try just one more time.’ His mouth flattened. ‘Keep the plans. They’re just copies—I have the originals.’
He glanced towards the inner door as the children clattered down the stairs. He seemed to brace himself. ‘It sounds as though the monsters are on the move. Horse riding, you said, didn’t you? Sounds good.’
‘Yes. I found a place not too far away that gives riding instruction and allows horseback riding along specially designated trails.’
‘I’m sure you’ll have a great time.’
She nodded. Despite the tension that had sprung up between them it was on the tip of her tongue to ask him to join them. She didn’t want him to leave. The thought of spending the day with him was suddenly uppermost in her head…but doubts filled her mind and held her back. He persisted in asking her about the house, and now that he had been thwarted, how could she know that he wouldn’t still do everything in his power to get what he wanted? Would that include trying to frighten her away? Who was the intruder who had come on to her property late at night? She remained silent.
‘I have to leave,’ he said, after a moment or two. ‘I have to go into town on business.’ Unexpectedly, he leaned towards her, wrapping his arms around her, and dropping a kiss on to her soft lips. ‘It means I’ll probably be staying there for a couple of days…so maybe I’ll be back on Sunday morning.’ He ran his hands lightly over her spine, lingering to stroke the swell of her hips, and causing a ricochet of sensation to surge throughout her body.
It was as though he was reluctant to leave, reluctant to let go, and yet there was something more…a tinge of disappointment, perhaps, that things had not gone the way he wanted? She had the strangest feeling that he was saying a final, for-ever goodbye. It felt as though something had irrevocably changed between them.
He sighed as children’s voices sounded in the hallway. ‘I’d better go. Bye, Lacey,’ he said.
Then he moved away from her and went out the way he had come, through the kitchen door and along the path towards the dock. Lacey stared at the empty space where he had been. She was hit by a wave of desolation. She wouldn’t see him until Sunday morning? It was all so confusing…she wanted him, and yet she wasn’t at all sure that she could trust him.
Life seemed bleak all at once. Why was she so smitten by him? How was it he had he managed to break through her defences and leave her floundering this way?
With an effort, she pulled herself together. She cleared away the breakfast dishes and rounded up the children. Then they all trooped off to find the riding stables, and spent the rest of the morning wandering along wooded paths, enjoying the sight of birds and waterfowl that nested by the side of streams along the way.
In the afternoon they returned to the house and later that day they took Toby with them into the woods. ‘He keeps wanting to run off and sniff things,’ Cassie said. She was holding his leash, but now she tugged him back from a craggy rock that was overgrown with wild grasses and ferns.
‘He can perhaps smell the scent of another animal that’s been around there,’ Lacey said. She couldn’t see anything amiss, except for a few broken twigs and a place where the vegetation had been torn away from the rock. Perhaps birds had been pulling at the dried grasses to add to their nests. Cassie was right, though, the dog was unnaturally drawn to the area.
‘Anyway,’ she added, ‘let’s head for home, and supper. There’ll be just enough time for you to play before bedtime.’
The children were both content to settle down in the room they shared, later that day, except for Tom wanting to know if he could have Rob’s room now that he was in hospital.
‘No, because he’ll be back as soon as they’ve made him better,’ Lacey told him. They had stopped by the hospital for a quick visit at lunchtime, and she learned that the consultant was to do a heart procedure the following day.
‘It’s what they call an ablation,’ she told Rob. ‘The consultant will use radio-frequency energy to destroy the abnormal electrical pathway in the heart tissue. You won’t feel it. You’ll be sedated and given a local anaesthetic.’
Rob seemed content with all that. ‘I just want to get it over with so that I can get on with my life,’ he said.
An hour later, with the children finally settled for the night, Lacey watched TV for a while, and then, as darkness fell, she decided it was time to let Toby out for his nighttime survey of the garden. ‘I’m letting you go off the leash, so don’t you go wandering off,’ she warned him.
Toby panted eagerly and then ignored her words completely. He sped off, like a greyhound released from the starting gate, towards the orange grove, disappearing among the trees and leaving Lacey to wonder what on earth had become of him.
When he still hadn’t returned some five minutes later, she went back into the house to fetch his leash and a torch. At least the children were fast asleep, so they wouldn’t miss her while she chased after the dog.
‘Toby, come back here,’ she called. She waited. Nothing. She called again, but Toby remained steadfastly out of range. Lacey set off towards the boundary fence, shining the torch along the path, hoping that she would catch sight of him.
‘Toby, come here.’ She said the words sharply, as a command, and then as she stood still and listened to the night sounds, she heard a soft growling noise. She frowned. Where was he?
The growling became louder, followed by a bark, and then another, and another. Lacey dipped through a gap in the hedgerow and walked in the direction of the sound.
Toby was by the crags, standing guard over a rocky inlet, close by the deep channel of water that ran alongside that part of the property. ‘What is it, Toby? What’s wrong?’
The dog’s gaze was intent on the water. His hackles were up, and his growl was deep and ominous. Lacey shone her torch over the area. There were rustling sounds in the undergrowth, a shadow flitting through the trees, and…something that made her heart shudder for a brief moment…the sound of someone breathing heavily as though he was anxious to make a quick getaway. Lacey felt her blood run cold.
She clipped Toby’s leash in place and waited for him to settle. When he seemed content that the danger had passed, his hackles softened, and he looked towards her.
‘Okay, good boy. I think you scared him off.’ Toby looked back towards the water, undecided whether he should still be on his guard.
Lacey gave a shiver of unease. ‘Let’s go home,’ she said.
The incident had lef
t her shaken. After all, she was alone out here, with two young children in her care, and now she felt certain that someone was attempting to trespass on her property. There was no one around to help her out… Jake had said he would be away for the night, and Grace was over in Key Largo with Matt.
A feeling of dread ran through her. What would have happened if Toby hadn’t warned the man off? For surely it must have been a man?
She glanced towards Jake’s house and saw that the lights were on. That was strange. Hadn’t he said he would be away for two nights? But perhaps he had a change of plan, and he was home after all? Should she ring him? Everything in her insisted that it would be so comforting to have him hold her and tell her that she was worrying over nothing, but the niggling uncertainties wouldn’t stay away.
Hadn’t she dampened any spark of warmth that might have arisen between them? Why would he listen to her after what she had said? And if he did listen, he might simply say that the place was isolated and she could expect this kind of thing, as he had done before. Wouldn’t he be secretly pleased if she found a reason for quitting this place? Surely her fears of an intruder would play into his hands?
She frowned. No, it wouldn’t do. If she wanted to go on living here, she had to find a way of coping, didn’t she? Bracing herself, she went back into the house, making sure that all the doors and windows were locked.
The next morning she took the children with her when she went to see Rob at the hospital. They amused themselves in the play area while Lacey sat by his bedside. She left the door to his room open so that she could keep an eye on them.
‘So you had the operation first thing,’ she said, cautiously assessing his condition. He looked well, although he was a little pale. ‘The nurse told me everything went smoothly.’
He nodded. ‘The consultant said he found the exact spot that was causing the problem, and dealt with it. I’ll be keeping the implant for a while longer, just to make sure everything’s as it should be, but he says I should be fine from now on.’
‘That’s great news,’ she said. ‘You must be so relieved.’
‘I am. I’d just like to be able to get out of here now, but my blood pressure was a bit high, so the doctor wants me to stay here for observation for a while longer.’ He sent her a quick, assessing glance. ‘You’ve been quieter than usual,’ he said. ‘Is something troubling you? Another headache?’
She shook her head. ‘I’ve been a little worried lately, to tell the truth. I thought I heard an intruder on the property late at night the other day. Then I decided it must have been an animal blundering about.’
‘And something happened to change your mind?’
‘Yes. Toby reacted to someone or something that was out there again last night. I’m inclined to think it was someone, but I’ve no idea what he was after. I’m afraid he might be trying to work his way into the house.’
Rob frowned. ‘I wasn’t aware of anything in all the time I was there on my own. Funny it should have happened soon after you came to live there.’ He studied her. ‘Have you spoken to Jake about it?’
‘Only briefly. I didn’t mention what had happened—only that I’d been out on the deck late at night. He said we were isolated out here and things can seem a bit spooky.’
‘I remember. I know he told you that there were plans for his brother to come and live next door—I think it was the day Jake came to eat with us.’
She nodded. ‘That’s right. He’s asked me a few times if I would consider selling the house to him, and he would offer me over the asking price, but I’ve always refused. Now, though, I’m wondering if I’m doing the right thing. I don’t like the idea that someone might be roaming around the place.’
‘Do you think there’s a possibility that it might be Jake?’ Rob’s expression was sombre. ‘I know this will sound bad, considering that I’ve agreed to do some work for him, and he and I were beginning to get along better, but it might be that he’s trying to scare you. Asking outright if he could buy the place and offering to pay over the odds haven’t worked, so this might be the next best thing.’
He made a face. ‘I never thought Jake was the kind of man to do that, and it’s very possible I’m doing him a disservice, but we’re talking family heritage here, money and ambition. It’s not beyond the realms of possibility.’
‘No, maybe not.’
She didn’t want to admit that Rob could be right, but the thought had edged in to her mind all by itself before this. How far would Jake go to get what he wanted? Did he want the land and the house so badly that he would try to ease her out? Surely there had to be another explanation?
CHAPTER TEN
‘HOW did things go with Matt and his colleagues?’ Lacey asked, greeting her sister. ‘You look as though it all turned out really well.’
‘It did.’ Grace was in an exuberant mood. She hugged the children when she walked into the house around mid-morning that day, and even Toby was rewarded with a tickle behind the ears.
‘It was lovely,’ she said. ‘We had a great time. The men talked business for a while, and we women went to look around the new offices—we stopped off for lunch and then did a tour of the shopping centre.’ She grinned. ‘A bit of retail therapy—exactly what I needed!’ She dropped her packages onto the table in the kitchen, and Cassie and Tom dived on them, looking to see what she had bought.
Lacey smiled. ‘I’m glad it went well. But didn’t you say on the phone that you and Matt were going to look at a house? How did that work out?’
‘Oh, it was so good…you’ll have to come and see it, Lacey. It’s beautiful. The children’s rooms are so much bigger than the ones they have now, and there’s a huge kitchen. We’ve decided to put in an offer, but we want to take the children to see it as soon as possible. I’d hate to see it slip out of our hands now that we’ve found what we’re looking for.’
‘So why don’t you take them today? I’ll keep an eye on Toby for you.’
‘Are you sure you don’t mind?’ Grace sent her a hopeful look. ‘I hate to leave you two days running…but I really want to clinch this deal. I think we would probably stay over if we do go down there. Matt has to work this afternoon, so we wouldn’t get to look around until fairly late. I think he would prefer us to stay at his overnight lodge…he managed to book into a place where there’s fishing, so he and Tom could escape for a few hours in the morning.’
‘Sounds good to me. Tom has been hankering to use a rod and reel—for my part, I think he’d do better with a net on a stick, he’s less liable to swing it round like a lasso, but there you are. I expect Matt will find him a junior version.’
‘It’s already stowed away in the car.’ Grace spooned coffee into the percolator and switched it on. ‘How’s Rob doing? Is there any news?’
‘Yes, I stopped by the hospital this morning with the children. He’s fine, except for raised blood pressure, and they’re putting that down to a mild chest infection, a legacy from when he was lost on his Everglades mission, I think. I expect they’ll let him come home tomorrow. He seemed to be in good spirits, anyway. He was grumbling about his hospital bills and all the forms he had to fill in for the insurance company.’
Lacey was still pondering his remarks about Jake wanting her out of this house. The more she thought about it, the more miserable she felt. She didn’t want to believe it. She couldn’t believe it. Whatever his faults, Jake had been nothing but considerate and caring towards her. He had shown her his vulnerability and his strength, and all she had done was to throw his shortcomings in his face. How could she have done that?
Somehow, over these few short weeks, Jake had managed to find his way into her heart, despite her best intentions to keep him away. She had fallen for him, deeply, passionately, with no going back.
It had happened when she’d been least prepared, and now she was left to bear the consequences. She loved him, but what did he feel about her? Why did he hold her and kiss her and make her feel that she was special to him, if
he was happy for her to leave this place? And yet, despite all that, she couldn’t seriously believe that he would do anything to make her unhappy.
‘I’m glad Rob’s on the mend, anyway.’ Grace rummaged through her shopping bags. ‘I bought some tickets for a ride in a glass bottomed boat,’ she said. ‘I thought we could all go this afternoon, if that’s all right with you? They’re doing a tour of the reefs, and I think Tom and Cassie will love it.’ She frowned. ‘I’ll have to tie Tom to the deck rail, of course…it’s either that or lock him in the captain’s cabin for the duration.’
She chuckled as Tom sent her an indignant look. ‘No one’s going to lock me up,’ he said fiercely. ‘I’ll set Toby on them.’
‘Just kidding,’ Grace said. ‘But you have to be on your very best behaviour or you don’t get to go on a trip again for a long while.’
‘I’ll be good as good,’ Tom said.
Cassie gave him a long look. ‘He lies,’ she said. ‘He’s never good as good.’ She turned to Lacey. ‘Couldn’t we ask Jake to come with us? He gets Tom to behave.’ She frowned. ‘At least he didn’t break anything when we went to look at the treasure collection.’
‘Jake’s not at home,’ Lacey told her. ‘I went to call on him this morning to return a couple of platters, but he didn’t answer. He must be away in town somewhere.’ So if he had come home last night, he’d gone away again first thing this morning. She recalled the disappointment she had felt at not finding him there. She wanted so much to talk to him and reassure herself that all was well between them.
Cassie wrinkled her nose and looked at her brother. She sighed. ‘Well, I’m not sitting next to him on the boat.’
Tom stuck his tongue out at her.
‘That’ll do,’ Grace said. ‘Go and get changed, ready for the afternoon. T-shirt and shorts, Tom.’
The glass-bottomed boat was a wonderful experience. They sailed close to the reefs and stayed there, so that people could take photos or simply watch the reef fish dart about. They saw sponges and turtles, and all the lovely species of coral that Lacey had seen on her dive with Jake.
