Accidentally Yours

by Rebecca Winters

  Gaby got up and started pacing. How much longer was she going to have to wait here, a victim of memories that would haunt her for the rest of her life?

  She had a writer friend who said it was cathartic to get your feelings down on paper. Maybe that’s what she’d do. Write a novel to exorcise Anatoly from her consciousness.

  One Week in the Life of Gaby Peris, Number One Sucker.

  She frowned. That was a lousy title.

  Ten Ways to Tell When You’re Being Conned Big Time!

  Not bad.

  Beware of Russians Bringing Flowers!

  It was coming….

  Beware of Tragic Russians Bearing Roses.

  She almost had it.

  Pink!

  That was what was missing.

  Beware of Tragic Russians Bearing Pink Roses.

  Suddenly the door opened. “Gabriella? I’m sorry. I had to do it. I hope you can understand and forgive me. I’ve brought you these.”

  Pink roses…

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  GABY’S GAZE traveled from the two dozen, long-stemmed pink roses without thorns to the official ID clipped to the pocket of the man’s dark gray suit jacket.

  There it was in black and white.

  A photograph of the living, breathing male standing in front of her. Special Agent Max Calder, decked out in his FBI attire. Conservative suit, white shirt, dark tie.

  She couldn’t lift her eyes any farther.

  “Your friend has already told me everything I need to know.”

  “I asked him to prepare you.”

  “He did a good job. Just tell me one thing. Then I’m out of here.”

  “Gabriella…” He said her name on a ragged whisper.

  That didn’t wash anymore.

  “Why didn’t you leave me alone after the crash?”

  His chest heaved. “Because I thought the mafia was worried I’d infiltrated their organization. I figured they hired you to either eliminate me or seduce me. So I was forced to check you out.”

  That brought her head up to his handsome face. His handsome deceitful face. “Well, I certainly made that easy for you to accomplish, didn’t I.” Her fury was building. “You actually thought I ran into you on purpose?”

  Not a muscle in his face twitched. He was cool as ice. “It’s not uncommon for the mafia to send a woman. The right one could make a man lose his head and tell things he shouldn’t.”

  “But you didn’t lose yours, did you, Mr. Calder. How do you keep your roles straight?”

  He put the food and roses on the table. “I know this has come a tremendous sho—”

  “Don’t.”

  His face darkened. “We have to talk.”

  Her chin lifted in defiance. “I don’t have to do anything. According to your buddy, the department’s grateful to me for what I did. Sleeping with the Enemy. I saw the movie. You and I didn’t get quite that far, but it was just a breathless moment away from happening.”

  His jaw hardened.

  “No doubt the bugs you planted in every conceivable place have provided free, week-long entertainment for the department’s delectation.” Ignoring his grim countenance, she charged on. “From their viewpoint, and the world’s in general, you’re a hero. What you do to fight crime, no man should have to do. From one American citizen to another—” her eyes flashed sparks “—I salute you. But speaking as a widow who’s been working her way through the stages of grief and who had finally reached a plateau that was neither pleasure or pain, I damn you for making me feel things again. I won’t thank you for that.”

  “Gabriella—”

  “You’re very good at what you do. At least, Anatoly Kuzmina was very good at it. He actually made me feel cherished. Ironic, isn’t it, considering he’s an underworld criminal. That’s a feat a lot of men ought to try and emulate if they want the undying love and gratitude of their girlfriends and wives. But most of them don’t know how. But my tragic Russian did. He performed everything perfectly, right down to his inability to make English contractions. I found that one of his most endearing traits. Especially the ‘r’ he emphasized on occasion to remind me of his Russian roots. I doubt even a Shakespearean actor could have carried that off without ever making one tiny mistake. Like I said, he was the best. I’m going to miss him.”

  “You don’t have to miss him, Gabriella. He’s right here.”

  “No. Max Calder is a stranger to me. I don’t know him. I don’t want to know him. I’m sure he’s a nice guy, but he has a mistress more possessive and demanding than any woman I’ve ever met.

  “I’m going back home to my family. After Paul died, I thought I can’t run to my mother and expect her to make everything fine for me. I told myself, Gaby? You’re a big girl now. You’ve got to grow up and face life the way it is. So I settled here and met Hallie. She was about the greatest thing that ever happened to me.”

  Gaby fought to hang on to her control. “Yesterday she moved on with her life. Today I’m moving on with mine. I’m a New Jersey girl at heart. Unlike Hallie, I have a big family at home waiting for me. None of them were happy when I told them I was going to live in San Diego. Only Dr. Karsh supported me. He said I should get in touch with myself again, but I wouldn’t do that if I returned to old haunts and my comfort zone. Well, those were prophetic words. Thanks to one Anatoly Kuzmina, I got in touch with myself all right. But he was a fantasy. So I’m headed back to my roots where things are as they seem. Good luck winding up this case.”

  He stood there without moving.

  Her hands knotted into fists. “You came to say what you had to say to me, Mr. Calder. Now I would appreciate it if you would leave. I gave Detective Poletti my statement.”

  “I’m not going anywhere, Gabriella. You’ve said what you wanted to say. Now it’s my turn.”

  “I don’t want to hear it. If you were a normal man, we would never have crossed each other’s paths after the accident.”

  “I’m a very normal man,” he fired back. “The minute you and I made eye contact at your car, the chemistry hit, so don’t bother to deny it. In fact, it scared the hell out of me.”

  “Oh, Antato—”

  Too late she caught herself. If she listened to much more, he’d get to her again. She knew he would. He could talk faster and sweeter than a man had a right to talk.

  Before she could think, he was leaning over her with both hands on the armrests. Trapped in the chair, she had no place to go as his mouth descended and he started kissing the daylights out of her.

  “No!” she cried when he finally let her up for air.

  He straightened, but his breathing was shallow.

  “That’s what I wanted to do to you the first time I saw you. Have you any idea what it’s like to come face-to-face with a woman you want to make love to when you believe she’ll put a knife in your back at the first opportunity?” His eyes blazed. “Don’t you know I would have given anything to have met you under different circumstances?”

  “It wouldn’t have mattered. You would simply have been using one of your other names. Your friend told me you have a number of them in your repertoire.”

  A bleakness entered his eyes. “You’re not going to give me a chance to explain, are you.”

  “Explain what? I may have been naïve, but I’m not a complete imbecile. You have a job to do. It’s not for everybody, but it has to be done. You’re the best person I know to do it. I’m living proof of that. So get on with your life, Agent Calder, and let me get on with mine. Don’t forget to take the food with you.”

  He ground his teeth. “I’m not interested.”

  “You see?” She flashed him a brittle smile. “You’re nothing like Anatoly. He loved food. He relished life. He was too good to be true.”

  The face of the man standing in front of her darkened as if the sun had slipped behind a cloud. Then he was gone.

  “GABRIELLA? DARLING?” Her mother poked her head into the bedroom. “Come downstairs and have some lunch. I
’ve made a chicken salad. Come on. You didn’t eat breakfast. You should be putting on a few pounds, not losing them.”

  “I-I’ll come down in a little while, Mom. Thank you for being so wonderful to me. I’m sorry I’m such a disaster.”

  “You’ve been here three weeks. A vacation is supposed to be relaxing, fun. Maybe it wasn’t such a good thing for you to come home, after all. The memories of Paul are still too strong.” She turned away.

  “All right, darling. Come down when you’re ready.”

  Gaby hated deceiving her parents and family. They thought she was still grieving for her husband. But after she’d arrived, she’d gone straight to her uncle’s. First he’d put his arms around her. That had produced one of her better sob sessions. Then she’d told him everything. He was an excellent listener. When she finished, he’d told her she would be wise to keep the business about Anatoly to herself.

  Dear God. He would always be Anatoly to her.

  But there was no Anatoly!

  Realizing she couldn’t go on in this condition, she reached for the phone and called Dr. Karsh. By some miracle he was between patients and could talk to her.

  “Gaby, there must be new developments. What can I do for you?”

  She started to say something, but another sob welled up in her throat. “I’m sorry, Dr. Karsh.” She fought to gain control of her emotions. “This is wasting your time. If I’d known I was going to do this, I wouldn’t have called.”

  “Sometimes my patients pay me to watch them cry the entire session. We are still talking about the same man, aren’t we?”

  “Yes,” she croaked. “It turns out he’s an FBI agent who’s been working undercover.”

  After a silence, “I have to tell you I’m relieved.”

  “Naturally I am, too. But he’s a person who does whatever he has to do to get the job done. That makes him amoral rather than immoral.”

  “Gaby, the issue you must face has little to do with morality, and everything to do with the fear of loss and rejection.”

  “Rejection?” She plumped the pillow she’d been lying on.

  “You and your husband shared a reciprocal love before he died. You and your Russian also shared a bond. But it turns out he was a fantasy you have to put away because a third man has emerged. Not only does he represent the unknown, he’s in a high-risk career. For all of those reasons, you’re frightened.”

  How Dr. Karsh did it, she would never know. Not in a thousand years.

  “What I’d like you to do is review what we talked about before you moved to San Diego. This time you have more to go on.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You survived! I remember when you first came to me, you were sure you wouldn’t.”

  As usual, he helped her push the demons out of the way so she could see her path a little more clearly.

  “I’d forgotten that. Thanks for reminding me, Dr. Karsh.”

  “Anytime.”

  THE NEWS THAT Yevgeny Babichenko, the man at the head of the Southern California branch of the Russian mafia, had been indicted on numerous counts of mail and insurance fraud had come out in the morning news. By evening, headquarters had turned into one big rocking bash.

  Gideon pushed himself away from the desk. “I’m going to grab us some more calzones and Cokes.”

  Max nodded. “Sounds good.”

  There had to be at least forty agents and a dozen cops congregated in Karl’s office for the celebration. And everyone knew that without the unexpected help from Gabriella and Irina, this party might not have taken place for another year or longer.

  No one could be happier over the outcome than Max. Sixteen underbosses, ten cappers and twenty-five drivers had been indicted and would be going to prison with Yevgeny.

  For all intents and purposes, the auto-accident ring run by Babichenko no longer existed.

  Other men would spring up in his place. But for the moment, every federal agent, insurance agent and cop could take pleasure in a job well done.

  Last week the guys had nabbed Nikolai on his way out of Galena’s apartment. That gave Max and his backup team the chance to rescue the battered woman. Gideon helped to arrange a reunion between mother and daughter. It was a touching moment neither Max nor his friend would ever forget.

  Between their two testimonies, the feds had an airtight case none of the mafia attorneys could beat. The Pedrovas were now in the witness protection program, living in another part of the country. Most of the loose ends had been tied up.

  Except that Max was in hell.

  “Whew! It’s a madhouse in here.” Gideon snagged a chair and sat down next to Max again.

  “There’s talk about a special presentation for Gabriella and the board from Girls’ Village for meritorious service to the community.”

  “That ought to be interesting. They’ll have to find her first,” Max growled.

  “You know where she is.”

  “If you’re trying to tell me there’s been some secret ballot nominating me to go get her, you can forget that. The woman wants no part of me.”

  “Sure she does. But she fell in love with Anatoly. She needs a little time to figure out that he’s inside you anytime she wants him to come out.”

  Max shook his head. “The last few minutes in that room, it was like déjà vu.”

  “You mean with Lauren.”

  “Yup.”

  “Wait a minute. There’s a huge difference here. Lauren hated what you did for a living.”

  “So does Gabriella.”

  “Are you kidding? She’s your counterpart. Could you see Lauren disguising herself as a nun and confronting a mafia gang leader? Just to find out if Galena was still alive?”

  Max’s eyes closed tightly. “If I’d known it was Gabriella…”

  “It’s just as well you didn’t. I’m not sure even you could have kept your composure in front of Nikolai.”

  “You’re right. Lord, Gideon. Gabriella’s the most—”

  “She’s one of a kind. You know in your gut you two were made for each other.”

  “I wish she knew that. It’s been a month. I’ve got this awful premonition that she’s already practicing law in Atlantic City.”

  “Why don’t you send her some flowers to test the waters?”

  “The way she feels about me, she’d kill the delivery guy.”

  “Since Karl’s put you on official vacation for a month, I could round up a couple of the guys who are due for some time off. We could kidnap her on the pretext that she isn’t safe. You keep her somewhere and do your Anatoly act until she breaks.”

  Max liked the sound of that. “There’s just one problem. Uncle Frank.”

  Gideon drained his drink. “You could ask Karl to assign you to a new case in New Jersey. That way you’d be in range.”

  “Not if she doesn’t want to see me. I’m better off staying at the apartment house and doing deliveries for Karin.”

  “Max, I told you I can take my vacation any time now. We could fly up to Alaska and do some salmon fishing.”

  “I wish that sounded good to me, but it doesn’t.”

  “Then what do you want to do?”

  “I want to go over to Gabriella’s apartment and start all over again.”

  “GABRIELLA?”

  “Hi, Uncle Frank.”

  “Come on in and shut the door.’

  She loved visiting him at his office, but right now her heart was giving her a workout because she’d asked her uncle to see if he could find out any information on Max Calder.

  “Sit down, honey. There’s not a lot in his file. He was an excellent New York City cop for a couple of years. But as to your question why he left, this newspaper clipping will explain it.”

  He handed it to her. As she read the text, her heart plunged to her feet.

  Two officers had been suspended pending an investigation of police brutality. Even though the jury came in with a not-guilty verdict, they didn’t go back on the beat.
Four fellow officers had been called to testify in the case. Two names stood out. Max Calder and Gideon Poletti. Neither of them went back on the NYPD, either. According to the article, several divorces resulted. Max’s marriage was one of the casualties.

  He’d been married. But it was a long time ago.

  “How tragic.”

  Her uncle nodded. “It’s one of the hazards of the job. The worst part, I think. But to their credit, they relocated and got on with their lives. This man you love is a hero, honey.”

  She nodded and kissed his cheek. “Thank you more than you know. I love you, Uncle Frank.”

  “You sound like you’re saying goodbye.”

  “I am. I’m going back to San Diego.”

  “Good for you. If all works out, bring him home for Thanksgiving.”

  “There’s nothing I’d like to do more, but I hurt him a lot.”

  “He’ll get over it. Men do.”

  “That’s what I needed to hear. Well, I’d better get going. Daddy’s meeting me for lunch before he drives me to the airport. But I had to drop by here first. Take care.”

  “You, too, honey.”

  MAX TAPPED KARIN on the shoulder. “What do you want me to do now?”

  Her blue eyes widened. “You mean you finished cleaning the back room already?”

  “Yes. I like to stay busy.”

  “I’m worried about you. You haven’t heard from Ms. Peris yet?”

  “No. After I told her I was working undercover for the FBI, she left California. I think she’s moved away for good. When I went by her office, someone else was working there and they did not know anything about her plans.”

  “I’m sorry, Anatoly. I can’t believe this has happened. I had such a strong feeling about the two of you.”

  “So did I. I guess we were both wrong.”

  “Well, go ahead and start on the afternoon deliveries. You keep the van at the apartment house tonight.”

  “Thank you, Karin.”

  “Thank you. The back room hasn’t been cleaned in a year. You couldn’t have given me a better present.”

  It felt like a year since Gabriella had been gone. Maybe Sandra and Juanita had heard from her. After he’d made his deliveries, he’d go back to the apartment and give them a call. Even though the doctor had expected Sandra to have her baby early, she still hadn’t gone into labor.