“Hmm.”
“Thank you.”
“Mm-hm.” She hugged his arms tight for a moment.
“Tired?”
“Mmmm-hm.”
“Want to go inside?”
“Nm-mm.”
****
Justin woke with that crick in his neck but a warm body in his arms. From the look and feel of it, the fire had died out hours ago. Only a tiny curl of smoke rose lazily from the gray ashes. The first rays of the rising sun shone from behind the house, chasing the night across the mountains to the west of the city.
He would’ve enjoyed the scenic view laid out before him from the top of the ridge, but he had something more beautiful to look at; Marley’s head pillowed on his shoulder. Waking with her in his arms made his sore neck more than worth it.
Last night had been hard and easy all in one. Hard to talk about the accident, but easy to talk to her. He had tried to explain a few different times to Jordan, but could never come up with the words. With Marley, he hadn’t struggled for the words, they were just there. She’d offered him support from the beginning, and given comfort at the exact moment he needed it most.
He wasn’t even disappointed things hadn’t turned physical. That was a revelation in itself because he actively avoided relationships. This, lying here with her, simply enjoying holding her without expecting anything else, smacked of relationship like nothing he’d ever done before. It was more than a little disconcerting, but exciting at the same time.
Marley murmured in her sleep and snuggled closer. His arm had fallen asleep and after she shifted, the numbness made way for that annoying tingling sensation. A quick glance at his watch told him they should get going anyway, so he reluctantly woke her up.
Her sleep-filled eyes blinked up at him, the soft green of them drawing him in like the automatic rewind on a measuring tape. His stomach somersaulted, and his heart started to pound.
“Morning?” Her low voice was extra sexy in its sleep roughness. After all his sappy thoughts of a minute ago, he suddenly wanted her so bad it hurt.
He cleared his throat and shifted her to a less painful position. “Yeah, it’s morning.”
“I s’pose it’s time to get up.” She stretched against him like a contented cat and Justin didn’t know how much more he could take.
“We should get to the hospital to talk to Nate.”
She sat up then, fully awake, and he regretted mentioning Nate so soon. He didn’t like being the one to bring that look of fear to her face. But reality always had a way of intruding, and like it or not, they had to face it.
“I want to make a few calls, too.” He stood after she did. “One to Chuck, and the emergency crew. I want to follow up on the possibility that one of them could’ve been on call like you said.”
“To match the footprint.”
“Exactly.” He followed her inside. When she started for the kitchen, he took hold of her arm. “You want tea or coffee?”
She gave him a look of surprise. “Coffee.”
“Go get ready, I’ll bring you a cup.” Then he grinned. “I’m guessing sugar—lots of it.”
She smiled sheepishly. “Three teaspoons, no cream.”
Unable to help himself any longer, he pulled her close for a kiss. He kept it brief, mindful of morning breath, then set her free and strode into the kitchen to make the coffee. He just barely kept himself from whistling.
Marley stared after him, then rushed to get dressed. She was in the bathroom with the door cracked open when he poked his head in and set her mug on the counter.
“Your sugar, ma’am.”
His exaggerated drawl made her smile again as she finished twisting her hair into the ponytail holder.
“Mind if I shower?” he asked.
“Bathroom’s all yours.” She picked up her mug to step into the hall. She paused as he closed the door, then instead of letting her imagination go crazy, decided it’d be smarter to make breakfast. The eggs sizzled in the frying pan when she heard an appreciative groan from the doorway.
“That smells good.” Justin stepped into the kitchen to fill his coffee cup. “I’m starving.”
Marley couldn’t help but stare. Straight out of the shower, hair toweled but not combed, with a five o’clock shadow prominent on his strong jaw, the rugged look was made for him. A few stray drops of moisture clung to his broad, bare chest, and the green towel that wrapped around his waist left a good portion of his muscled legs exposed.
Yeah, she could wake up to this man the rest of her life, no problem.
She leaned against the counter without bothering to hide her appreciation. “Breakfast is almost done.”
He glanced over, caught her look, and paused. Marley felt each individual beat of her heart even after he glanced at the clock above the sink. When he looked back, disappointment edged his expression.
“I’ll be back in a minute,” he said in a low tone, turning to leave.
Marley watched until he disappeared, his back as sexy as the front of him. Her pulse leapt as she considered following him to the bedroom. She’d actually turned off the stove and started in that direction when the phone rang.
She jumped about a foot, feeling like a kid caught with her hand in the cookie jar. It was absurd, the caller had no idea of her intentions, but she still felt herself blush as she answered the phone by the third ring.
“Is Justin with you?” Jordan’s question came across none-too-friendly. “He’s not answering his cell.”
“He’s here. He’s just getting dressed.” She winced at the way that sounded. “Hold on.”
She started down the hall, her pulse still racing. Justin came out of Nate’s bedroom, dressed in his clothes of the night before, and met her halfway. His brows rose as she handed him the phone.
“It’s Jordan.”
“Thought you didn’t crow with the roosters?” Justin said into the phone as he followed Marley back to the kitchen. He took a seat at the square kitchen table with his coffee while she dished up their plates.
“What?”
Justin’s shocked exclamation drew her full attention.
“Tommy Berndt? Yeah, I worked with him and his brother back in college. Tommy quit the company right before I graduated.”
Marley set his food and a glass of orange juice in front of him, and then took a seat kitty-corner with her own plate. She didn’t feel bad about listening. If he didn’t want her to hear his conversation, he’d leave the room. It was her kitchen after all.
“This is unbelievable.” Anger resonated in Justin’s tone as he sat back in his chair to rake a hand through his combed hair. “Read it again…wait…once more. Let me see if I understand this…unless we agree to pay him ten thousand dollars, he’s going to go to the media and tell them that Granddad’s a murderer?”
Marley’s fork clattered to her plate, drawing a sharp glance from Justin.
“That’s bullshit. Besides, Granddad’s dead. It’s hearsay, an empty threat. Who’d he supposedly murder, anyway?”
Marley picked up her fork and set it next to her plate.
“Then we’ve got nothing to worry about. This guy’s got nothing, that’s why he doesn’t say who.” After a pause, his expression drew tighter. “I don’t give a damn about what it’ll look like to everyone else, Jordan…you’re right—I never have—and you want to know why? Because my name is Justin Blake. Not Karl Hunter, not Dale Blake, not Jordan Blake. If people can’t take me for who I am, then who the hell needs them?”
Marley almost wished she’d given him privacy. Almost. He shoved up from the table and paced to the kitchen window.
“The hell you will!” he growled into the phone. “No. Where would you even get the money? You told me the accounts are empty…no…no, Jordan—we will not pay that bastard blackmail money. If we pay once, all he’ll do is bleed us dry. Besides, paying just makes it look like this guy’s telling the truth and we’re trying to hide something. If the media gets wind of that, it’ll
look twice as bad.”
Marley took a bite of toast but had trouble chewing it. She washed it down with half a glass of juice. Then she pushed her plate aside and simply toyed with her fork. Thoughts of Nate taking money from Dale Blake pounded against her conscience.
“Jordan, settle down, will you?” Justin commanded. “I’ve got a few things to take care of this morning and then I’ll come to the office and we can think this thing through. Maybe go talk to Dad and Mom and see if they have a clue what it’s all about…I know…yes, I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
He hung up the phone and returned to the table. “Sorry.”
“You don’t have to apologize,” she assured him as he picked up his fork. He speared a piece of sausage, lifted it halfway to his mouth, then dropped it back on his plate.
“Stupid bastard, trying to blackmail us. It’s crazy—all of it. At some point things have to return to normal—right?” He looked at her. “Right?”
She wondered what he’d say if she told him about Nate’s possible involvement in his grandfather’s death. That wasn’t normal at all. Guilt surged forward, and she kept her gaze downcast. “At some point.”
“Yeah, at some point.” He lifted the sausage again and took a bite. When he looked pointedly at her plate, she told him she wasn’t hungry. She didn’t correct him when he assumed she was worried about Nate. He was right—just not the way he thought.
On the drive to the hospital, Justin called Chuck and verified he hadn’t seen anyone else at the job site the night before. He also checked if Chuck had any business meetings he’d conducted on site that day—someone dressed in something other than the customary jeans, tee shirt, and steel-toed work boots for the construction workers. Again, no dice.
At the hospital, Marley waited impatiently for the nurse to let her in to see her brother while Justin went to ask how to reach the shift supervisor for the paramedic team that had brought Nate in the night before.
Justin returned as she stood to go into Nate’s room. Their eyes met, and he shook his head to her silent question. At this point, there was no logical explanation for that flat-soled footprint other than Nate’s half-drugged whisper that someone else had been there.
Marley took a deep breath and pushed open the door. When Nate saw her, his expression relaxed in relief. She took his hand and forced a smile to her face.
“You’re looking better this morning,” she said, leaning to kiss his cheek.
His gaze shifted to the opposite side of the bed.
“Hey, Nate,” Justin said. “You realize this constitutes being late for work?”
Justin’s attempt at humor didn’t even crack a smile on Nate’s face. He must really be feeling bad, Marley thought. “What exactly happened last night?” she asked point blank.
Her brother shifted slightly in his bed. “I’m not really sure how it all happened. It’s a little fuzzy.”
Marley noticed he avoided looking at Justin, and her stomach churned all of a sudden. “You said someone was there.”
“I don’t remember…”
Marley stepped closer to the bed with the same feeling of dread that she’d gotten the night he’d told her about Karl Hunter. “Who was there, Nate?”
Chapter 19
Nate stared straight ahead. Impatience gnawed at Justin, and he leaned on the bedrail.
“We went to the site,” he told Nate. “We found footprints that didn’t belong—someone wearing dress shoes, or something with a flat sole. It’s obvious you know something, so who was it?”
Nate turned his head to Justin. A spark of defiance lit his eyes even as he swallowed hard. “At first I thought it was you.”
“What?” Marley exclaimed as the same disbelief exploded inside Justin.
“But then I saw your twin and things were already so blurred…I’m not sure who it was anymore.”
Nate’s implication became clear, and Justin fought a surge of anger. “Jordan would never do something like this.”
“Why would you even think Jordan would try to hurt you?” Marley asked Nate.
“I didn’t get a good look at the guy,” Nate defended before zeroing in on his sister to add pointedly, “Whoever it was.”
“Justin didn’t do it.”
Marley’s adamant defense gave Justin a feeling of relief that shouldn’t matter as much as it did.
“How do you know?” Nate asked Marley.
Her gaze shifted to meet Justin’s. He got another jolt when he saw an absolute conviction in her eyes that matched her voice. “Because I know.”
Then it dawned on him that she didn’t jump to Jordan’s defense and he got pissed off all over again. “Jordan didn’t do it either.” Her gaze wavered and he saw her doubt. “That’s something I know.”
“He doesn’t like Nate. That was more than clear last night.”
Justin’s hands clenched on the rail. Anger vibrated his body. “He didn’t do it.”
They stared at each other across the bed. Then he saw something flash in her eyes. She opened her mouth to speak, then closed it again. When she would’ve averted her gaze again, Justin forced her to hold his.
“What? You might as well say it.”
She hesitated, then lifted her chin. “You all look remarkably like Dale.”
Justin shoved up straight. “So that’s how it’s going to be. Let’s just accuse my whole damn family while we’re at it. Hell, my sister Cassie has blonde hair, maybe she did it.”
“All I’m saying is that—”
“You’re saying that my father—” He pointed a finger at Nate as he glared at her. “—his father, tried to kill him.”
“I’m saying that Nate’s not sure who was there, and Dale can’t be ruled out,” Marley insisted. “For God’s sake, Justin, he gave Nate fifteen thousand dollars to keep his mouth shut about being his son. What kind of a person does that?”
“A cowardly bastard. But it doesn’t mean he’s capable of murder.”
But as the seconds ticked by, he began to think of the things he’d learned about his father in the past few weeks. Turned out his father was capable of a lot more than he’d ever thought possible.
He paced to the window, only to swing back around as a question occurred to him. Leaning against the sill, he crossed his arms over his chest. “Let’s just say for one crazy, completely impossible second that Jordan or my father was there. Why?” He gestured with one hand as he watched Nate. “Why would either of them do this to you?”
Nate held his gaze for a moment, then dropped his eyes. “Because of what happened with Karl.”
Marley’s sharp intake of breath drew Justin’s attention in time to see panic cross her face. She stared at Nate, who glanced from her, back to Justin.
“But she told you he was still alive when I left that day…didn’t you?” Nate looked back at his sister.
Justin pushed away from the window and strode back to the bed. Marley shook her head, raising a hand to press against her forehead. He stared hard at her as the pieces began to fall into place. The expression of misery on her face made him sick. “She didn’t tell me a damn thing.”
“But…” Nate’s gaze swung back to Marley, his face ashen. “You said they knew.”
Marley shook her head with anguished resignation. “They knew about you being their half-brother. That’s why they were here last night.”
“What happened with my grandfather?” Justin demanded. Marley met his look without flinching, but didn’t say a word. It was Nate who spoke, explaining what had happened that afternoon.
“Son-of-a-bitch,” Justin ground out. “You’ve got some nerve accusing my brother and father of coming after you after what you’ve done.”
Nate tried to sit up, but slumped back down with a gasp. “Marley said he had a heart condition…that the paper said—”
Justin focused back on her. “You say a lot these days, just not what counts. Where’s that honesty you’re so proud of?”
That struck a nerv
e. But despite the guilt in her expression, she retorted, “Karl Hunter was no saint—what with his secrets and threats. He knew about Nate all along but never said a single word.”
“That’s not the issue here,” Justin argued. “A lie of omission is still a lie.”
“Don’t you dare judge me, Justin Blackman.”
Their voices had steadily risen, and with Marley’s last words, the door to the room was thrust open.
“What is going on in here?” a nurse exclaimed in a stern undertone. “He’s supposed to be resting.”
Justin stepped back out of the woman’s way. It was either that or be shoved aside as she checked the monitors next to the bed. She made a sound of annoyance and pointed to the door. “Out. Both of you.”
Marley’s mouth opened in protest. “But—”
“Now!”
Justin directed a look at Nate. “This isn’t done.”
Before Nate could speak, Marley bent down close. “I’ll take care of it. You get some rest and don’t worry.”
Justin waited for her just outside the room. She swept past him without a word, and he ground his teeth in annoyance. Halfway down the hall he caught her arm, but she yanked free and kept walking. Short of forcibly restraining her right there in the middle of the hospital, Justin had no choice but to follow.
“How exactly do you plan to take care of it?” he asked when they reached the main level of the hospital. “Gonna turn yourself in and take the fall for him?”
She didn’t answer.
“Actually, that’s something I’d like to see. You on the stand, under oath. It’d be interesting to see which way you went with the story.”
She shoved out the door before whirling to face him in the bright morning sun. “Don’t you dare question my integrity. I quit a job I loved because I couldn’t face you every day knowing what Nate might have done.”
“You have integrity confused with guilt,” he accused. “You couldn’t face me because you knew it was wrong.”
He saw he’d hit the nail so dead center, he sunk it with one blow.
“What should I have done?” she asked. “Turn in my own brother for something that I’m not a hundred percent convinced he’s responsible for?”
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