by Lee Magner
“Yes,” Honoria said flatly. “I knew. I make it my business to know everything that goes on in this town. How can the mayor manage if he doesn’t know what pitfalls lie about him? I made it my business all these years to smooth the way for him, and that meant I needed to know everything. There are no surprises…” She stared at Franklin. “Well, almost none. At least your father doesn’t know about this.”
“I’m just like you, Mother,” he said urgently. “That’s why I had to do what I did. I only made one mistake. And it wasn’t my fault. She trapped me. She told me she was on the Pill, but she lied…”
“Be quiet, Franklin,” Honoria commanded hoarsely.
But Franklin needed to involve her to the fullest in his problem. Only then would she do what needed to be done. So he wasn’t quiet. He kept talking. As fast as he could. Staring at her, trying to draw her under his influence completely.
“No. You were right. She was a deceitful piece of lust. Lexie had one tool to use with me, with any man, and she used it without the slightest moral concern.”
“You’re hardly one to talk about moral concern,” Case said harshly. “You murdered her and framed an innocent man.”
“She told me she was pregnant, but when she had the doctor end the pregnancy, she swore she’d tell everyone what had happened if I didn’t agree to marry her. To marry her!” Franklin laughed, outraged. “That little tramp wouldn’t fit in with our family portrait on inaugural day, would she, Mother? Don’t you see now why it had to be done? Why she had to die? She would have ruined everything!”
Honoria looked ill.
“You didn’t know, did you?” Case said softly.
She shook her head. “Tonight, when Clare said I should call the sheriff, there was something about the way she said it that bothered me. We’d been looking at old things… remember, Franklin, you’d asked me to look up that person in the yearbook? Call it maternal instinct, but… things I’d always buried and denied began to surface in my mind. When I got to the lake, I asked the mayor if he’d seen you, and he said no, that you hadn’t arrived yet. I…had a feeling…”
Franklin’s head snapped up.
“Clare knows?”
Honoria looked uncertain.
“Where is she?”
Honoria looked confused.
“Mother, aim the gun at his head and pull, the trigger. I’ve got to get hold of Clare. We can make this look like an accident. A lover’s suicide. A murder-suicide!” His voice rose excitedly. “Yes, and we can burn the place down, make it look like fireworks gone awry. Case was going to leave town. His father died, so why would he stay? And everyone knows Clare is crazy about him. We can make it look as if she went crazy with grief. Who knows, maybe she’s pregnant.”
Honoria stated at Franklin, as if she were actually considering the plan seriously.
“I don’t think that would work,” Clare said, stepping into the room.
Case gritted his teeth. Why the hell hadn’t she left, damn it?
“You see—” she held up the cellular phone he’d given her “—I’ve been broadcasting all of this to the sheriff while he drives here. I saw you arrive, Honoria. Fortunately, you stopped on the other side of the building and didn’t notice me, did you?”
The sound of a siren’s wail became audible.
Case held his breath. He was afraid that Honoria might lose her sanity in the face of this personal catastrophe. And she was holding a gun. If anything happened to Clare… He sucked in his breath in pain.
“Shoot, Mother,” Franklin said urgently. “She may be lying.”
Then another person entered the room. He was breathing hard. He had arrived in his own car, without a siren. When he saw what was happening, he roared in pain.
“Father!” Franklin cringed in horror.
The mayor stood, his hands clenched. He had a police band radio in his car and had been listening to everything. The sheriff had notified the mayor immediately, but the mayor had been closer to town than the sheriff and had beaten him to the scene.
Honoria slowly lowered the gun until it hung loosely by her side. Clare carefully walked up to her and removed it from her unresisting fingers. The mayor stood alone, his agony contorting his aging face.
“No!” he cried out in rage and pain. “No! How could you?”
Moments later the sheriff burst into the room with a deputy close behind him. Their weapons were drawn, but they holstered them as soon as they realized there was no immediate need for them.
Franklin, too stunned to speak, looked around him as the sheriff put handcuffs on him.
“I… I…” Franklin repeated, his mouth working, but no coherent thoughts came out. His eyes were glazed. “I thought I had everything under’ control…” he managed finally to say. “It should have…never…come apart. If Seamus just hadn’t been with Lexie…”
“What?” Case exclaimed.
Franklin, stunned by the turn of events, seemed to bethinking out loud, unaware of his surroundings. His mind was snapping before their very eyes.
“Lexie let Seamus ride with her to the motel where we were to meet. She thought I was giving her money and discussing when we could announce our engagement. But I came there to end our relationship permanently. She’d kept the meeting a secret. Except she’d stupidly given that old drifter a ride. He wanted to go to Jefferson to get something, and he’d fallen asleep in her back seat. I found him there when I left the motel. It just seemed the perfect answer. He was a nobody. Who would care if he was convicted of murder? I poured some vodka in some coffee and left it with him. Once he started drinking, he found the bottle, and by the time he was unconscious, it was easy to put the knife in his hand and…” Franklin’s voice dropped. He looked perplexed. “It should have worked. No one cared about him.”
“I cared,” Case said softly.
The sheriff yanked Franklin toward the door. “Come on, Franklin. Let me read you your rights. Don’t want no technicalities fouling things up later. Uh, Mr. Mayor,” he asked hesitantly. “Do you and Mrs. Bonney want to come along?”
The mayor stared at his wife as if he had never truly seen her before. “We’ll be along later,” said Grissom Bonney, who was in shock.
“Do you two need any help?” the sheriff asked, looking at Case and Clare.
Clare and Case walked toward each other until they were together in the middle of the room. Fireworks exploded outside, painting the room in iridescent pinpoints of pink, green, red and blue. Color flooded the night sky, turning the rich dark indigo into streams of gold, orange and glittering silver. They shook their heads. The others left, leaving Case and Clare alone.
Case put his arms around her and sighed in profound relief. She was all right. Thank God.
“Don’t you ever do that to me again, Case Malloy!” she said unsteadily, fighting off tears now that she could let down her guard. ’
“Don’t do what ever again?” He kissed her mouth, her eyes, her lips. He slid his hands slowly over her to reassure himself that she was whole and safe and in his arms again.
“Don’t you ever keep a secret like that from me. I’m your partner. I’m on your team.”
“Uh-huh…” His mouth followed the curve of her jaw.
“I was terrified for you.”
“That makes us even,” he muttered. Their mouths met in a kiss and his arms tightened around her. He deepened the kiss, moving his mouth over hers, in slow, hot, sensuous, possession. He almost believed she was okay. Almost.
“What was it you were saying earlier?” she asked breathlessly as he lifted his lips from hers.
“That I love you?” He grinned. They were certainly thinking along the same lines. That was good, he figured.
“Yeah, that.” She sighed, snuggling against him, seeking the warm reassurance of his body against hers.
“I do love you, Clare Browne,” he murmured, kissing her over and over. “And there’s something I think I should say.”
She looked at him ques
tioningly, looping her arms around his neck.
“How would you feel about me becoming a permanent part of your life?” he asked.
She stared at him, her eyes wide with uncertainty.
“What do you mean, Case?” she whispered.
“If I asked you, would you marry me?” he asked hesitantly.
She grinned and hugged him. It was hard to speak when she felt so giddy with joy, so filled with her heart’s desire.
“Ask me,” she murmured against his lips.
“Will you marry me, Clare Browne?”
“Yes, Case Malloy. I will, I will, I will!”
His sigh of relief made her grin.
“Did you think for a minute that I’d say no?” she demanded, laughing.
“I wouldn’t know till I asked,” he explained, grinning sheepishly. He cupped her face in his hands and looked into her eyes. “You’re the sun and the moon in my life,” he said soberly. “I want you with me forever. I want to have children with you, and grow old with you, and be happy until the day death comes to call. And even after that, I’ll be yours for as long as you want me.”
Tears welled up in her eyes and she held him as close as she could.
“Forever, darling,” she murmured, overcome with emotion. “In that case, you’ll be mine forever.”
His mouth covered hers in a tender, soul-binding kiss.
Fireworks painted the sky in glorious cascades of color. Over and over they burst into parasols of cheers etched in fire. Dazzling, trumpeting, ecstatic colors.
They were the colors of forever.
* * * * *
eISBN 978-14592-7924-7
DANGEROUS
Copyright © 1996 by Ellen Lee Magner Tatara
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the editorial office, Silhouette Books, 300 East 42nd Street. New York, NY 10017 U.S.A.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
® and TM are trademarks of Harlequin Books S.A., used under license. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.
Printed in U.S.A.
Table of Contents
Cover Page
Table of Contents
Excerpt
Dear Reader
Books by Lee Magner
About the Author
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Copyright
