Love Inspired Suspense July 2015 #2

by Terri Reed

  “I hope so!” Olivia’s hand tightened on her arm. “Now come on!”

  She started to throw her weight into the screen door. But it flew open from the outside. Olivia tripped over the ledge, dropped Sarah’s arm and pitched headfirst into Daniel’s chest. He caught her with both hands. The warm, woodsy smell of him filled her senses. His clothes were rumpled and his hair was damp with sweat like a man who’d just walked away from the right end of a fight. “What’s going on?”

  “It’s not what it looks like, Daniel!” Sarah’s tone was almost defiant.

  Daniel let Olivia go. “It looks as though Olivia was trying to drag you outside.”

  Olivia retreated into the kitchen and glanced back to the bedroom door. Jesse was nowhere to be seen.

  Daniel walked past her into the kitchen and over to Sarah. “Are you okay?”

  Sarah shook her head. “Yes. No. I don’t know. It all happened so fast. I didn’t know what to do…”

  Daniel dropped one arm over Sarah’s shoulders and looked at Olivia. A hard, searching look crossed his face. “Do you want to explain what’s going on?”

  “No, let me.” Jesse walked in from the bedroom and for the first time Olivia could get a decent look at the man. She pegged him as midtwenties. Messy hair that tried hard to be stylish, gray eyes and broad shoulders now slumped nonthreateningly like a dog trying to get away with something. What an actor. “Sir, I think I might owe your stepdaughter an apology.”

  “Might!” Olivia’s voice rose. “You grabbed her!”

  “It was a misunderstanding.” Jesse shot her a dirty look. “Sarah and I were talking. I misread some signals and I think I accidentally frightened her.”

  Olivia’s eyes flew up to the ceiling. “You threatened to beat me into the floor—”

  “I didn’t mean it. I was just running hot.”

  “You hit me!” Her voice rose.

  So did his. “I barely touched you!”

  Sarah was still standing there, watching the fight unfold without saying a word.

  Jesse turned to Daniel. “Please, sir. You’ve got to believe me, this was just some big old misunderstanding. Everyone misread some signals and I apologize for my share of the blame. I certainly meant no harm. But that woman attacked me. I can’t be blamed for losing it. She was totally out of control.”

  They were out of line… I can’t be blamed for losing it… I was totally justified… They were out of control… Olivia stopped short as she heard her father’s words echoing in her memory. How many times had she stood in some rented apartment kitchen, surrounded by packing boxes and listened as her dad explained he wasn’t at fault for the fight that had cost him yet another job? No matter how many jobs he lost. No matter how many times the family had to move. She’d always believed him when he said he wasn’t in the wrong, because what little girl wouldn’t believe her daddy? Then she’d grown up thinking the world was full of volatile people, that everyone was at risk of suddenly losing their job for no reason and every good situation would be inevitably blown to pieces.

  Except that just a few minutes ago she’d watched Daniel calmly hold his own and maintain self-control in the face of those thugs.

  Olivia took a deep breath. “Daniel, I know how this looks. Jesse’s right that I laid hands on him first. But he’s lying about everything else that went down. He’s the one who was way out of line. I was trying to protect Sarah.”

  *

  For a moment it was as though the scene had frozen around Daniel in the same eerie, slow-motion way he used to assess a violent skirmish, looking for an exit. Sarah was pressed against his side. Jesse’s hand was raised as if ready to strike Olivia’s words right out of the air. And Olivia… She lit up his kitchen like a firecracker. Anger flushed her cheeks. A fierce, determined strength flashed in her eyes. He couldn’t remember ever seeing someone more alive.

  What happened here? Jesse Sinclair had always struck Daniel as the kind of quiet but arrogant guy who mostly kept to himself. The kind of man who pretended to be a gentleman instead of openly being a brute. Then again, too many others on the construction crew were the type to turn flirting into something that bordered on harassment. Just one of the many poisons that seemed to run in the Leslie company veins. But was Jesse really the kind of person who’d manhandle Sarah and Olivia? If so, why wasn’t Sarah standing up for her? Could Olivia have blown this whole situation out of proportion?

  But that particular train of thought stopped dead in its tracks as he let his gaze deepen on Olivia’s face. It was pale, not from anger but from fright. He saw the slight tremor shaking her lips and the tears she was fighting to keep from falling from her eyes. His gut twisted into knots.

  He may not have witnessed what had happened, but he could see the results as clear as day. Olivia was shaken, and deeply.

  He kept his right arm lying over Sarah’s shoulders and reached his left hand out for Olivia. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”

  “Yeah.” She nodded, but didn’t take his hand. “I’m okay.”

  “Let me explain—” Jesse tried to slip between them.

  Daniel’s hand shot up before the young man could take another step. “Look, I don’t know if you accidentally misread Sarah’s signals or if you intentionally misread them because you didn’t much like the message they were sending. But I don’t actually care. Either way, you should be far more concerned with making things right than making a bunch of excuses, because there’s no excuse for frightening either of them the way you did. Let alone actually laying a hand on Olivia!”

  “Dude, it wasn’t my fault.” Jesse scowled. “That stupid cow was totally out of line.”

  So much for “sir.”

  “Get out of my house.” Daniel pointed to the door. “Right now. Or I will throw you out. And don’t ever let me catch you hassling either of them ever again. Got it?”

  Jesse’s eyes met Sarah’s and held them for a second. Then he raised both his hands.

  “I’m going.” He strode out of the kitchen. Within moments, there was the sound of a truck engine turning over outside. Sarah pushed away from Daniel and dropped into a chair.

  “Sarah,” Olivia said gently, “none of that was your fault. It’s perfectly normal to freeze up or get flustered and not know what to do in a situation like that.”

  “Jesse wouldn’t have hurt me.” Sarah crossed her arms. “Not really. He just wanted me to go talk with him somewhere and didn’t like that I wouldn’t.”

  “About the money Brian owed him?” Olivia asked. “Or about something else? When I walked in, it looked as though he was trying to kiss you.”

  “I don’t know. It doesn’t matter now, does it?” She stared down at the table. The teenager looked angry enough to punch something. But this would hardly be the first time she’d used anger to cover fear.

  Daniel sighed. “Olivia’s right. This isn’t your fault. He laid his hands on you without permission. You can press charges for that.”

  “No, I won’t do it! And if you call the police I won’t cooperate! None of those people you just chased out of here take me seriously as it is!” Sarah’s head dropped into her hands. “Everybody thinks I’m some weak, pathetic little kid who can’t do anything for herself and has to hide behind you. You think it’s going to do anything to help my image if word gets out I called the police on Jesse for basically nothing?”

  “I understand.” Olivia sat down, too. “Your image matters a lot to you, and sometimes people, or even the media, might say things about you that aren’t fair. That’s going to be a battle you’re going to face sometimes. But you can’t let that stop you from standing up for yourself.”

  Sarah’s head snapped up. “Do you really think I’m going to listen to you when you’re trying to use Daniel and get an article out of me? You think I don’t know you have an agenda? I saw you running around outside trying to interview everyone even while Daniel was trying to get them to leave.”

  Daniel’s eyes met Olivia’s. �
�Give us a few moments?”

  “Absolutely.” Olivia nodded. “But you should both know that before I got through to the police, I got an anonymous threatening phone call on your home line. It sounded like the same guy who tried to kidnap me. Basically just said something like, ‘Hey, sunshine, you’re not going to get away from me this time.’ I told the police.”

  Daniel sighed heavily. But Sarah didn’t even flinch.

  “Sarah’s been getting a lot of anonymous threats,” he said. “It could be one of those.”

  Or it could be whoever had tried to kidnap Olivia had somehow tracked her down to his house. Either way, he wished she’d told him in private, so he could have decided what and when to tell Sarah. But maybe telling them together was Olivia’s way of trying to show Sarah she respected her.

  Olivia slipped through the door and out into the night.

  “Olivia’s right, you know,” Daniel said.

  Sarah shot him a withering glance that reminded him of Mona. “I don’t know who you think you’re fooling. You knew I didn’t want to be interviewed by a tiny little paper like hers. You only called her because you’re attracted to her.”

  “Not true.” Sure, Olivia was an attractive woman. Remarkably so even. Anyone with a pair of eyes in their head could see that. But since he wasn’t looking for a relationship, her attractiveness made no difference to him. “I read enough of her stuff to know she’s a really good writer. Her newspaper has integrity and she knows a lot about your family’s company. Besides, this conversation isn’t about her. It’s about what just happened between you and Jesse.”

  “Jesse doesn’t matter. He’s just some guy who wanted whatever. He isn’t important considering everything else going on with Uncle Brian. I should’ve handled it myself. I shouldn’t have asked Olivia to help me make him leave. I never should have involved her in my business, and neither should you!”

  *

  Daniel tried to talk things out for a while longer. But after going around the same circles of conversation a few times, he finally wished Sarah good-night and walked outside to find Olivia. His eyes scanned the empty lawn, now marked with tire tracks and the remains of a party that had never really started. Olivia was nowhere to be seen. His feet sped up, taking his heartbeat along with them, as he strode down the driveway, kicking over beer cans and garbage as he went.

  Then he noticed the faint glow coming from his workshop and realized the garage door was open a couple of feet. He bent down. “Hey, Olivia? You in there?”

  “Yeah. Just checking something.”

  “What?” He yanked the rolling door up to shoulder level and ducked in.

  “Just wanted to make sure no one had done anything to your truck, considering Brian’s killers apparently planted some kind of explosives on his car.” Her feet stuck out from underneath his tailgate. “But from what I can see, no one’s tampered with it.” She slid out from under his truck and sat up. “How’s Sarah?”

  “Defiant.” Same as always. “She says she doesn’t know for sure if Jesse wanted to make a move on her or just talk to her about the company, because all he’d really said was that they should go walk outside and join the party. She told him I was making her stay inside. He grabbed her shoulders, as though he was going to lead her outside or something. That’s when you came in. At least, that’s her story right now.”

  “He’s a fake,” she said. “I didn’t buy his phony apology for a second.”

  “Maybe.” He sighed. “Jesse can be pretty charming, but he’s always struck me as entitled and a bit too high on himself. Leslie Construction has a pretty rough culture, and Sarah feels as if she has to show everyone she’s every bit as tough as Mona. When I became her guardian, she was already smoking, drinking and experimenting with drugs even though she was only fourteen. I did the best I could to keep her from that. But my days of being able to protect her are almost over.”

  Olivia stood up slowly. “Well, for what it’s worth, a girl named Kendra told me the original party invite came from Brian’s email address. She figured someone had used his machine for fun, so she passed it on.” She ran her hands down her dirty jeans. “What I can’t believe is how you got them all to leave. The way you took down Hawk was pretty amazing. I thought you said you weren’t a fighter.”

  “I’m not. You can’t control the situation if you can’t control yourself.” He turned back toward the night, braced his hands on the top of the doorway and looked out. He could practically feel the questions in her eyes boring into his back. “Growing up, I was always taller than all the other kids. Quieter, too. Spent hours alone just building things. Once when I was about twelve, this other kid started picking on me. He was older than me, I think, but smaller. He was pummeling me. Must have hit me eight or nine times.” He closed his eyes. “I hit him once. Just once. But it was enough to break his arm in two places.”

  He heard her cross the room behind him. Her voice was soft. “I’m sorry.”

  “It’s okay.” He shrugged but didn’t turn. “I started martial arts after that and learned how to protect myself and other people without seriously hurting anyone.”

  Still, he’d gone and married a woman with no self-control. What a mistake that had been.

  He turned back. “Anyway, it’s pretty late and apparently there’s still heavy rain in the forecast. I was thinking we’d sleep here and drive back to the city first thing tomorrow. I’ll take the loft out here. You can have my couch in the study. I know it’s not much, but Sarah’s already taken the bedroom.”

  She ran her hand through her wet, sweat-soaked hair. Her clothes were dirty and there was a streak of grease down the side of her face. But somehow she was still so beautiful it took his breath away. By running her hands self-consciously through her hair she only managed to spread the grease farther down her neck. “Actually, I lived out of a suitcase in a whole string of lousy little rented apartments most of my life. By comparison, this place, your home, is really rather wonderful.”

  She took a step toward him and he felt his chest tighten as if someone had sucked all the air out of the room. How had everything gotten so complicated? Ever since he’d first laid eyes on her in the parking garage it had felt as though they’d both been hurtling from one crisis to another. He’d carried this woman in his arms. He’d cradled her into his chest. But they’d still never shared as much as a cup of coffee together. Yet there was something about being, simply being, in the same airspace as Olivia that made him think that maybe he’d enjoy getting to know her better.

  “Everything okay? Daniel? You’re staring.”

  “Sorry. You’ve just got some grease on you. I’ve got something for that.” He turned away, walked over to his workbench. “You never told me about your call with the police.”

  “Yeah, Constable Henry of the RCMP.” She laughed. “He was very chipper. But his questions were really thorough. Almost felt as if he was investigating me.”

  Daniel ran his hand over the back of his neck. “I know the feeling. Every cop I’ve talked to since Brian’s initial arrest made me feel as if I was being suspected of something. I can’t shake the feeling there’s something bigger going on than mere tax evasion. Which is honestly probably another one of the reasons why I thought to call you. I learned overseas that when chaos was breaking out and the authorities were stonewalling, sometimes an honest media source was the best friend you could have.”

  She leaned back against his truck. A single light bulb suspended from the ceiling cast long shadows down her body, spreading out beneath her feet. “The cops are going to come into the office on Monday to talk to me further, so Vince can sit in. Before you ask, Ricky can meet up with me first thing tomorrow morning to duplicate whatever pictures are on the memory card.”

  Which I hope means you’ll turn the pictures over to the police tomorrow, too. But we can save that argument for later.

  He yanked open a drawer and pulled a disposable cleaning cloth from a packet. Then he switched on his workbench l
amp. “Come here. There’s more light.”

  She walked over to him and stretched out her hand. He took it and ran his cloth down a long grease smudge on the edge of her wrist until her skin was clean. Then he cupped her face and ran a fresh wipe down her cheek, but the grease stubbornly refused to yield. He pressed harder and leaned in closer, feeling the muscles in her neck tense from the urge to turn her head toward him. His fingertips brushed under her hair. Her eyes closed.

  And for the first time in a very long time, he wondered what it would be like to take someone’s face in his hands and pull her close, until he felt the warmth of her lips against his. To let himself kiss her, passionately, recklessly, in a way he hadn’t kissed anyone since he was a teenager.

  He leaped back, wrenching himself free from the feeling like a swimmer escaping the current as it was just about to carry him under.

  She opened her eyes. “Did you manage to get it all?”

  “Yeah. I did. But you’ll want to wash with soap and water before you fall asleep. The cleanser on the wipes is a bit strong.” His heart was pounding so hard he was surprised she couldn’t hear it.

  Lord, help me keep control of my heart.

  He dropped the wipe into the garbage. “I’m sorry,” he added, “but I think I should probably pop in your office on Monday, too, and have a word with your editor. I’m going to tell him Sarah’s decided she doesn’t want you covering this story and ask if he can recommend a different reporter, at a different media outlet, we should talk to.”

  NINE

  Daniel’s words fell like cement blocks inside the darkened garage.

  For a moment, Olivia couldn’t believe her ears. “You’re going to walk into my boss’s office on Monday morning and tell him you want a different media outlet covering this story?”

  “It’s nothing personal.” He didn’t even meet her eye. “I think you’re a wonderful person and a good reporter. But Sarah’s been swamped with media requests. Everyone wants a piece of the teenage heiress from the tragic, disgraced family. They’ll exploit her unless she finds the right person to handle her story. I want her to talk to someone who understands where I was coming from, someone on my wavelength.”