Reluctant Desire

by Leah Brooke

  Shaking her head, Charity flattened a hand on her stomach. “No. Something’s wrong. I can feel it. You know it, too. He was supposed to call me this morning when he got done at the warehouse. He wanted me to go with him, but I had to straighten out the mix-up with the flowers. We were supposed to have lunch together, and it’s already one o’clock. No, something’s wrong.”

  Getting to her feet, she rubbed her hand over her churning stomach and began to pace her sister’s kitchen. “It’s two days until the wedding. He wouldn’t pull something like this on me. He knows I’m a nervous wreck. Hell, he’s been calling me almost every hour during the day. He knows I’m a nervous wreck about the wedding arrangements, and he still won’t tell me where we’re going for our honeymoon.”

  Beau always seemed to know when she needed him, and he’d spent the last several days teasing her and trying to lighten the mood.

  Getting to her feet, Hope gathered their glasses and put them in the sink. “Come on. Let’s go.”

  Charity spun. “Where?”

  Hope took her arm, led her to the living room, and opened the closet door. “You’re not going to feel better until we find him.” She tossed Charity’s coat to her before shrugging into her own. “Let’s go look for him.”

  Slipping into her coat, Charity caught her sister’s arm, struck by the concern in Hope’s eyes. “You’re worried, too.” Frowning, she finished zipping her coat. “Hope, I’m scared. Something’s definitely wrong.”

  Hope rubbed her arm. “It might be nothing, but it’s not like Beau to disappear, and it’s not like him to ignore his cell phone.” She waved toward Charity. “I’m going to call Ace. Go warm up the car.”

  Charity nodded, her stomach clenching. She didn’t know what she’d do if anything happened to Beau. Now she knew how he would feel if he couldn’t get in touch with her, and vowed to herself to never do this to him.

  She got in the car and turned on the ignition, staring down at her phone again.

  Where could he be?

  Had he been in an accident?

  The thought of Beau being somewhere hurt made her want to throw up. She loved him too damned much to ever lose him.

  A minute later, Hope came out and opened Charity’s door. “Move over. I’m driving. You’re shaking.”

  A few minutes later, they pulled into Beau’s driveway.

  Charity reached for the door handle, her hands shaking so badly that she missed the first time. “His truck’s not here, but I want to go look inside.”

  As soon as she stepped through the door, she knew he wasn’t there. She always felt him.

  She had to look, anyway.

  She went from room to room, calling his name, but there was no answer. As she started back out again, she looked up to see Hope standing just inside the front door. “He’s not here.”

  Surprised that her voice cracked, she said it again. “I looked in every room. Let’s try the store.” As she started past the small table near the entryway, she saw that the light on the answering machine blinked.

  “I wonder if all these messages are from me.”

  Hope strode over and hit the play button. “There’s only one way to find out.”

  The first message began to play. “Beau, I really need to see you.”

  Charity stiffened at the sound of Anna’s pleading tone.

  “I need to talk to you about the divorce. I found the wedding invitation. Jeffrey hid it from me. Please don’t tell me you’re really going to get married to her. We need to talk, Beau. Today.”

  Charity blinked at the anger in Anna’s voice.

  Hope snorted. “Damn. That woman just can’t take no for an answer, can she? Bitch.”

  Charity listened to the rest of the messages, all from her, each sounding increasingly frantic. “He hasn’t been back here since he left this morning. If he had, he would have listened to these.”

  Hope gripped her arm and tugged, pulling her back out the door. “We’ll find him. Let’s go check out the store.”

  Rubbing her arms as she made her way back out to the car, Charity choked back a sob. “I knew something was wrong. Damn it. Why didn’t I start looking for him sooner?”

  After talking with Beau’s employee and learning that he’d been expecting Beau to call him back, too, Charity was scared out of her mind. “Tim said he’s been calling Beau for over an hour. Beau was supposed to talk to him today about the schedule. We’ve got to find him, Hope. Head for the warehouse. We’ll check on the way to see if there’s any sign of an accident. If he’s not there, Hope, I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

  She couldn’t stop shaking, her knees rubbery and her hands shaking as she pulled the car door closed.

  Staring straight ahead, she braced a hand on the dashboard as her sister pulled out. “Beau wouldn’t have disappeared like this.” Charity chewed on her thumbnail, ruining the manicure Hope had insisted she absolutely had to have.

  Turning to glance at her sister, she shifted restlessly in her seat. “I can’t stop thinking about that message from Anna. I’d hoped she’d given up. I wish I knew where the hell she lives.”

  Hope reached for her hand and squeezed, the look of fear in her eyes scaring Charity even more. “Ace is on his way there now. I called him when you were in Beau’s store. If that fucking bitch—”

  Charity whipped her head around. “What? What do you know that I don’t know?”

  Shaking her head, Hope sped out of town. “Ace and I were talking about her the other night. Her obsession with Beau is a little extreme. According to Ace, it’s been going on for some time, but when Ace tried to warn Beau about her, Beau got defensive. He always looked at her as some kind of damsel in distress, but after what happened and Beau found out the truth about her, Ace is a little worried.”

  Charity swallowed the lump in her throat, but it was quickly replaced by another. “She’s desperate now. Beau doesn’t know what kind of effect he has on people. She’s in love with him.”

  Hope released her hand, gripping the steering wheel with both of them as they hit the outskirts of town. Speeding up, she sat forward. “She doesn’t know what love is. She’s possessive. She’s selfish. She wants what she wants and she doesn’t give a damn about anyone else.”

  Every minute of the drive seemed to take forever, and with every mile, Charity became tenser, her imagination running wild. “What if she hurt him? He wouldn’t be expecting that. He wouldn’t feel threatened by her.”

  Hope spared her a glance. “Maybe he’s just talking to her somewhere. Hell, maybe he has a flat tire and his cell phone’s dead.”

  Charity nodded, clinging to any scenario in which Beau was safe. “Yes. He’s usually good at charging his phone, though.” Tapping her hands on her thighs, she turned her head from side to side, not wanting to miss anything. “He might have gotten tied up somewhere. He still would have called. Yeah. He would have called. It’s not like Beau to stand me up. He’d answer his phone if he could. That means for some reason, he can’t.”

  Sucking in a breath at the mental image of Beau lying dead at the side of the road, Charity whipped around to her sister. “What if he was robbed? What if someone knew he owned the warehouse and decided to rob him?”

  Hope frowned. “Don’t they just deal with credit cards?”

  “What if the person robbing him doesn’t know that? Shit, Hope. He just fired someone. What if the guy got mad and came back to get even with him?”

  “Stop it!” Hope grabbed her arm. “We don’t know until we know.”

  Charity knew Hope wanted to calm her, but the closer they got to Beau’s warehouse, the more scared she became. “Right up here. It’s on the right. There it is.” Her heart hammered in her chest. “Look! His truck’s there.”

  As soon as Hope stopped the car, Charity scrambled to get out.

  “Charity! Wait!”

  Ignoring her sister, Charity ran through the front doors, her heart stopping at the sound of Anna’s voice. “No, Beau
. You don’t want her. You want me!”

  The large aisles of the huge warehouse made it possible for Charity to remain hidden, and gave her room to move. Rushing to the first aisle, she ducked behind it, waiting for Hope to appear.

  She listened to Anna and Beau talk, trying to judge their location.

  It sounded as if they were in the next aisle.

  As soon as her sister walked through, Charity put a finger to her lips and motioned for her to duck and hurry over, relieved to see that Hope carried a baseball bat.

  Keeping her voice low, she leaned close to Hope. “I forgot you carried that. I want to get closer and see what’s going on. Give it to me and you go call for help.” She reached for the bat and tried to pull it from her sister’s grasp, but Hope tightened her hold on it.

  “No.” Hope shook her head, keeping her voice at a low whisper that Charity had to strain to hear. “Stay put a minute and I’ll text Ace. I’m not leaving you in here alone.”

  “Put the gun down, Anna, and we can talk.”

  Charity stilled, a cold chill going down her spine at Beau’s soft command. Turning her head, she met her sister’s gaze, a lifetime of experience enabling them to communicate without speaking.

  I’m going.

  Shit.

  Hope started texting, handing over the baseball bat with a look.

  Be careful.

  Charity blinked back tears, fear for Beau threatening to choke her. She knew she had to get herself under control or she wouldn’t be able to give him the help he needed.

  She could do this. She had to do this.

  He’d been there for her when she’d needed him and she couldn’t do any less.

  She did her best to push the mental image of Beau being shot to the side, knowing that she wouldn’t be of any use to him if she fell apart.

  Staying low, she focused on Anna’s voice as the other woman pled with Beau to listen to her, and Beau’s insistence that she put the gun down first. As Charity edged her way around the corner, she poked her head out, her breath coming out in a rush when she found the aisle empty.

  She couldn’t tell if they were in the next aisle or not, but she knew she had to be getting close.

  She barely heard her sister’s footsteps on the concrete floor, and didn’t take the time to look back, just shaking her head to let know Hope they weren’t in that aisle as Charity worked her way to the end of the next one.

  Knowing that Hope had called for help, Charity thought about nothing except getting close enough to help Beau if he needed it, and possibly get a chance to let him know that help was on the way.

  Her fear grew when she realized that Anna sounded more unstable and desperate by the minute.

  Anna’s voice also became stronger, her anger coming through and making her more uncontrolled.

  “No, Beau.” The cold edge in Anna’s voice sent another surge of fear through Charity. “I can’t let you make a mistake like that. I can’t let you marry her. If I can’t have you, nobody can. I worked too hard to get you.”

  “You never had me, Anna.”

  Charity sucked in a breath, spinning to look at Hope.

  What the hell did he think he was doing?

  “That’s enough, Anna. Jeffrey loves you. He needs you.” Beau’s voice carried an anger and a hint of panic that hadn’t been there before.

  Peering around the display on the endcap, Charity sucked in a breath and held it, her heart jumping to her throat when she saw Anna, about eight feet away, holding a gun pointed at Beau.

  Beau faced Charity’s direction, but Charity didn’t know if he saw her.

  Ducking back, she gripped the bat tighter, closing her eyes and pressing her forehead against the smooth wood as she struggled to calm her breathing.

  Anna stood only about eight feet away, facing Beau, who stood on the other side.

  Hope peered around her, ducked back and tugged her sleeve, getting Charity’s attention before motioning that she would go to the other end of the aisle.

  Charity shook her head and tried to grab her sister to stop her, but Hope was already gone.

  Inwardly cursing, she slowly straightened, pausing to wipe her damp palms on her pant legs before gripping the bat with both hands.

  “I love you, Beau. You were supposed to marry me! I can’t let you marry her, Beau. Don’t you understand?”

  “Anna, I love Charity.”

  Charity took a deep breath and let it out slowly, doing her best to ignore Anna’s words and listen for whatever Hope planned to do. Easing her head around the corner just enough to watch Anna, Charity tightened her grip on the bat.

  Suddenly, the display at the opposite end of the aisle came crashing down.

  Anna cried out and whirled toward it just as Charity stepped out and raised the bat, hitting Anna’s arm and sending the gun flying a split second before Beau could grab it.

  Anna fell to the floor, screaming in pain as Beau smiled at Charity. “You broke my arm.”

  Charity nodded, never taking her eyes from Beau. “You stood me up.” Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Hope racing toward her, and saw her sister pick up the gun from halfway down the aisle.

  Beau’s eyes seemed lit from within as he reached for her, his hands closing around her upper arms and pulling her against him. “Are you okay? You’re shaking, cher. Come on. Let’s sit you down.”

  Locking her knees, Charity buried her face against his chest. “I’m okay. Are you hurt anywhere?”

  Running his hands up and down her back, Beau had to raise his voice to be heard over Anna’s screams. “I think I aged ten years when you walked through the front door, but other than that, I’m fine. You scared the hell out of me. Why didn’t you just call for help?”

  Hope touched his arm as if assuring herself that he was unharmed. “We did. I did, at least.” She winced at the sound of Ace’s deep growl coming from the end of the aisle.

  Ace strode straight for Hope, another policeman rushing along side of him. Snagging an arm around Hope from behind, Ace took the gun from her hand, handed it to the other policeman, and crushed his wife to his chest in one smooth move. “I told you to wait for help!”

  Charity clung to Beau, watching the other policeman help Anna to her feet. “We couldn’t wait. Anna was getting bolder by the minute and was going to shoot Beau. She said that if she couldn’t have him, no one else could, either.”

  Beau’s eyes were filled with pity as the policeman took Anna away. “She needs help. I feel sorry for her, and for Jeffrey.”

  Weak with relief, Charity poked him in the stomach. “You scared me, damn it.”

  Beau ran a hand over her hair, his eyes narrowed. “Not half as scared as I was when I saw the two of you come in.”

  Hope turned slightly, still held in Ace’s embrace. “How did you see us?”

  Beau gestured toward the mirrors in the corners. “I had to get Anna turned around so she wouldn’t spot you.”

  Charity lifted her head, leaning back to look up at Beau. “Where are all your employees?”

  Beau shrugged. “When I saw the gun, I sent them all home. Told them to get out and that I was closing for the day. None of them got a chance to see the gun.”

  With a sigh, Beau pulled out his phone. “I’d better call Jeffrey.”

  * * * *

  Sitting on the hood of her car, Charity leaned back against Beau, watching as Hope finished giving the policeman her statement with Ace hovering protectively at her side. “Thank God, you weren’t hurt. Ace looks pretty grim, huh?”

  “Men tend to look that way when their women are in danger. You and Hope scared the hell out of me, cher.”

  Hugging his arm, Charity shuddered, unable to get the image of Anna holding a gun on Beau out of her head. “You scared me. I thought for sure you were in an accident or something. I heard the message Anna left at your house. She really sounded desperate.”

  “She was. Something snapped inside her, Charity. I want to make sure she gets the h
elp she needs. If Jeffrey can’t afford it, I’m going to help him.”

  Charity blinked at the challenge in his tone. Turning to look up at him over her shoulder, she frowned up at him. “Why did you say it like that? Did you think I would object?”

  Beau relaxed behind her. “I don’t know. She’s caused a lot of trouble, but I just can’t let Jeffrey try to handle this on his own.”

  Charity nodded, enjoying the feel of him, warm, solid and safe. Leaning back against him again, she smiled. “You know, you really do have a thing for damsels in distress. It seems strange that you’d want to marry a woman who’s perfectly capable of taking care of herself.” She fought to hide her unease, wondering how a man who takes care of everyone around him would handle a wife who could take care of herself.

  Beau tightened his arms around her and pulled her close, his warm, silky tone filled with love. “Afraid I’ll get bored if I can’t rescue you? I hope I never have to rescue you again, cher, and I know you’re perfectly capable of rescuing me. I love you, cher. I’m not marrying you because you need me. I’m marrying you because I need you.”

  Epilogue

  Smiling up at her husband, Charity ran her hand over his tuxedo as he turned her on the dance floor. “You throw a hell of a party, Mr. Parrish. I should have known you’d be good at this, too.”

  Beau grinned. “I know it was driving you crazy to turn the reception over to me, Mrs. Parrish. You’re not used to giving up control. It was fun to watch.”

  Narrowing her eyes, she poked him in the chest. “You enjoyed tormenting me, didn’t you?”

  Faking a wince, he smiled and lifted her hand to his lips. “I plan to torment you in other ways, cher.” Straightening, he ran a hand down her back. “This is the last song, cher. The party’s over. Are you ready for our honeymoon?”

  Grinning, Charity allowed him to lead her from the dance floor as the music faded away. “Absolutely.” Her heart raced with anticipation. “I’ve never made love with a married man before.”

  Beau threw back his head and laughed. “And now, that’s all you get.” Bending, he put a shoulder to her stomach and lifted her over it.