One-Click Buy: July 2009 Harlequin Blaze

by Julie Kenner

  “Six months ago is just about the time that the vandalism started on Maddie’s ranch,” Cash said.

  Shay nodded.

  “There’s a connection,” Jordan insisted.

  “Maybe. Maybe not,” Shay said.

  “Why? Why would someone do that to Pete?” Jordan pressed her fingers to her temples. She was beginning to feel like a parrot that only knew one word.

  “Not for the turquoise he’s been collecting,” Shay said. “He had several packets of them in his saddlebags. Whoever helped him off that cliff didn’t rob him. The only other possibility that occurs to me is the belief around here that he has old maps of the turquoise mines that his ancestors once worked. Someone may have gotten the idea they were valuable. That may have been why he was being followed. If indeed he was.”

  “Is there any way to figure out if the thief found any old maps?” Jordan asked.

  Shay smiled. “If I know Pete, they didn’t find any. I doubt he’d keep anything that valuable in his trailer, not when he spent so much time away from it, or in his saddlebags. And if he felt he was being followed, he was forewarned.”

  Over Shay’s shoulder, Jordan saw a tall man using a cane step through the waiting room door. “D.C.,” she said as she hurried forward, her arms outstretched.

  “YOUR COMPETITION?” Shay asked.

  Cash studied the tall man in the doorway. “D. C. Campbell, her roommate Jase’s brother.”

  There was nothing in the friendly hug Jordan and D.C. exchanged that even hinted at a more passionate or intimate relationship. So why the hell did he have this coppery, bitter taste in his mouth? “He’s on leave from Iraq where he’s been serving as an MP, and he’s flown out here at his brother’s request to provide backup.”

  “Good idea.”

  Cash continued to watch as Jordan tucked her arm into D.C.’s and led him over. The cane and the slight limp didn’t seem to bother D.C. much.

  “Your leg,” she said. “How bad is it?”

  D.C. smiled at her. “Just a little collateral damage. The army sent me home for a few months to get it rebuilt.” He tapped his thigh with one hand. “They replaced a lot of parts. I’m hoping some of them turn out to be bionic.”

  Jordan laughed. “Stop. I just got a mental image of you leaping over a tall building in a single bound.”

  “That’s what I’m hoping,” D.C. said.

  Old friends, Cash thought, and something inside of him eased.

  After Jordan made the introductions and they shook hands, Cash asked, “How are Jase and Maddie?”

  D.C.’s eyes immediately sobered. “I checked in with Jase when I landed, and they were tucked up all safe and sound in a hotel. But there’s been a development since I left New York. Earlier this evening, there was a second attempt on Maddie’s life. Someone tried to run her down just outside her mother’s apartment.”

  “That’s where my mother was killed,” Jordan said.

  “Yes. The car—a cream-colored sedan—fits the description witnesses gave of the car that struck down Eva Ware. But this time they got a partial plate, and a taxi driver is sure it was a Mercedes.”

  Jordan stared at him. “That description could fit my mother’s car.”

  “Yes. Jase has a friend at the NYPD who’s working to track the car down even as we speak.”

  “But—” Jordan broke off when there was movement in the doorway and Lea Dashee and an older woman stepped into the room, and Jordan and Shay moved toward them.

  “Pete Blackthorn’s next of kin,” Cash explained to D.C.

  “He’s the reason Jordan told me to meet you here, right? He’s the old man who took a bad fall off a cliff.”

  “We’re sure he was pushed.”

  “Ah.” D.C. pulled a notebook and pen out of his pocket. Then he shot Cash an apologetic glance. “Sorry, old habit.”

  “No problem. Did Jordan fill you in on the fact that she’s masquerading as Maddie while she’s here?”

  “No.” He glanced at Cash. “That could put her in even more danger.”

  “She felt it was the best way to help her sister out at the big jewelry show tomorrow.”

  “It may also be helpful in our getting a handle on who’s behind all this.”

  “You think the attacks on Maddie and Jordan are connected.”

  “Hard not to, but we’ll see.”

  While Cash watched Jordan settle the two women on a couch, he filled D.C. in on what they knew about Pete Blackthorn and his fall. After pouring coffee and serving the three women, Shay rejoined them.

  “Let me see if I got everything,” D.C. said. “Pete’s been successfully prospecting the land around here as long as anyone can remember, and he reputedly has old maps of the mines his ancestors worked. Starting six months ago, he gets a ‘sense’ now and then that he’s being followed. And today, you suspect someone was waiting for him in one of the caves and pushed him off the cliff.”

  “That’s a good summary,” Cash said.

  Beyond D.C.’s shoulder, Cash watched Jordan take Lea’s hands in hers. He wasn’t at all sure how she was managing to hold up through everything. In one day, she’d learned her mother had been murdered, and then her sister’s and her own life had each been threatened twice. And right now, her entire focus was on offering some comfort to Maddie’s friend, Lea. He was beginning to understand that she’d had a lot of practice coping and taking care of others. Had anyone ever taken care of her?

  He turned back to D.C. “Something else you need to know. It was six months ago that the incidents of vandalism began on Maddie’s ranch. And six months since Daniel Pearson, our local wannabe real estate mogul, approached Maddie to list the ranch with him. Since then, the seriousness of the vandalism on the ranch has escalated. And this morning someone—we think a pro—tried to run Jordan and me off the road and over a drop-off. Later, there was an incident at the hotel’s exhibition hall. The wall of a booth nearly fell on Jordan.”

  D.C. gave a low whistle as he met the eyes of Alvarez and then Cash. “You didn’t mention either of those incidents to Jase.”

  “No,” Cash said as Jordan rejoined them. “We figured he and Maddie had enough on their plates.”

  For a moment, D.C. glanced down at his notes. “Let’s see if I can connect all of the dots here. We’ve got a man who’s made a successful living collecting stones—mostly turquoise—from various abandoned and supposedly tapped-out mines in the area. Someone may have been keeping an eye on him for the last six months, and today this person may have helped him off a cliff. In the same time frame, Maddie is being urged to sell her ranch and there are some incidents perhaps designed to pressure her into doing just that.”

  “You’ve got the picture,” Cash said.

  D.C. scratched his head. “I may be taking a leap here, but what if Pete has at some point discovered a new vein or batch or whatever it’s called of turquoise? One that hasn’t been tapped out, and what if it’s on Farrell land?”

  “Not such a big leap,” Shay said. “I think we can all make it even without a bionic leg.”

  D.C. shot him a grin. “Agreed.”

  “We ran into Pearson today,” Cash said. “He seems confident that he’s going to close the deal with Maddie tomorrow night over dinner. So why the attack on Pete?”

  “Because if Pete gets wind of the fact that Maddie is selling the ranch, he might blab about the existence of a find of turquoise,” Shay put in.

  “And if she knew about the mine, Maddie wouldn’t feel so pressured to sell,” Jordan said.

  “She wouldn’t have to sell—especially if the turquoise is of the quality that Pete has been selling her for years,” Cash said.

  “The problem is if Pete was attacked so that Maddie would remain under pressure to list the ranch and sell it, why try to kill her? That won’t get her signature on the dotted line.”

  “Good point,” Shay said.

  “And don’t forget that someone’s trying to kill Maddie in Manhattan,” D.C.
put in. “It isn’t just one twin who’s being threatened.”

  Shay rocked back on his heels. “The attempts to kill Maddie and Jordan could be unrelated to the sale of the ranch. They could very well have been triggered by the will. It’s an open invitation to murder.”

  “Jase would agree with you on that,” D.C. said. “There’s a real possibility that there are two things going on here. We were having a similar discussion in my brother’s office earlier today. On the surface, there seem to be two things going on in New York, too. Jase and his partner are trying to find the connection between Eva’s death and a robbery that occurred at her store about a month ago. And then there are the attempts on Maddie’s life.”

  “And Jordan’s. What if it’s one big picture, and we just haven’t found a way to connect your dots yet?” Cash countered.

  A man in a white coat with a stethoscope stuffed in his pocket stepped into the room. “Detective Alvarez?”

  Shay moved toward him and guided him to where Lea and her mother were sitting. Jordan hurried to take a seat beside Lea and take her hand.

  “He’s a strong old man,” the doctor began. “The MRI is clear. The X-ray showed no broken bones other than the ones in the hands. He has a good-size bump on his head, but there’s no sign of a concussion. We’ve medicated him for pain and we’re treating him for shock and exposure.”

  “He was unconscious when we first found him,” Jordan said.

  The doctor nodded. “The medics who brought him in said he was halfway down a cliff. Since his hands were pretty useless, there’s no telling how long he might have been lying there before you discovered him. With no way down to his horse, no way to get water, it’s not surprising that he was drifting in and out of consciousness. He might have died on that cliff.”

  Lea Dashee wrapped her arm around her mother’s shoulders, then turned to Jordan. “You and Cash saved his life.”

  Although Jordan had suspected that on some level, hearing the doctor confirm it had her throat drying. What if they hadn’t just ridden out? Their original plan had been to tour the ranch on the day after the jewelry show. Pete might not have lasted that long.

  “He’ll be all right?” Lea asked.

  “We think so. We’ve given him pain medication and a sedative. If his vital signs remain strong overnight, an orthopedic surgeon will operate on his hands tomorrow morning.”

  “Can I talk to him?” Shay asked.

  The doctor looked at Shay. “He’s going to be out for a while, and he needs his rest for tomorrow.”

  “How about if I stop by before he goes into surgery? We believe he had some help falling off that cliff.”

  The doctor considered, then nodded as he rose. “Just as long as you don’t upset him.”

  As Shay walked the doctor out, Jordan put her arms around Lea. “You’re staying?”

  “My mother and I will both stay.”

  “What about the jewelry show?” Jordan asked. “Can I help out in any way?”

  Lea managed a smile. “Oh, I’ll be there. My mother will stay with Pete. You should go back to the ranch now. Get some rest. I know you’re going to wow them tomorrow.”

  Cash took Jordan’s free hand and drew her to her feet. Quite suddenly, she was exhausted. They were halfway to the door when Lea said, “Maddie.”

  It took her a beat, and Lea called out the name a second time before Jordan turned.

  “Thank you for saving my grandfather’s life,” Lea said.

  Then Jordan let Cash draw her out of the room.

  HOURS LATER, Cash stood at the window in Maddie’s bedroom and watched Jordan sleep. She was curled on her side, her hand tucked under her chin. Moments before he’d been lying next to her. The urge to touch her and wake her so that they could make love again was so strong that he’d forced himself to slide out of bed.

  She was exhausted—emotionally, physically. He suspected that it wasn’t normal for her. She hadn’t had much sleep since she’d arrived in Santa Fe, and he was partly responsible for that. She’d dropped off on the drive to the ranch and had only roused slightly when he’d carried her into the house.

  “What?’ she’d asked. Her eyes had been glazed.

  “We’re home,” he’d said. “Go back to sleep.”

  After laying her on Maddie’s bed, he’d returned to the kitchen to talk briefly with D.C. Jase’s brother had been making himself a sandwich.

  “I’d say make yourself at home, but I see you’re already doing that,” he’d said.

  “I usually do,” D.C. had replied around a mouthful of food. “They don’t feed you on airplanes anymore. Probably just as well.”

  “When you’re done, turn left in the hall. You can take the room at the end.”

  “You’ll be with Jordan, I take it.”

  Cash hooked his thumbs in the front pockets of his jeans. “You have any objection to that?”

  D.C.’s eyes had been steady on his. “Just don’t hurt her.”

  “I’m going to do my best not to. You can pass on the same warning to your big brother with regard to Maddie.”

  Two beats had gone by before D.C. had given him a brief nod. “Fair enough.” Then he took another bite of sandwich. “Got any beer?”

  “There’s another refrigerator in the pantry.”

  “Thanks. You can go along to bed if you want. I may be up for a while unwinding. Plane trips rev me up for some reason.”

  As D.C. turned and made his way to the pantry, Cash said, “I don’t like playing a waiting game. I’d like to figure out a way to take a more proactive role in this.”

  D.C. had turned and grinned at him. “You’re a man after my own heart. You think this Pearson’s behind the vandalism?”

  “I do. And he might very well have attacked Pete.”

  “There might be a way to get him to reveal himself… I’ll sleep on it.”

  “Me, too.”

  Then he’d left D.C. to his foraging.

  Jordan stirred and then settled again. Cash hadn’t slept on it yet, but he’d given it some thought. All he’d come up with was to get Pearson alone and beat the truth out of him. It was hard to think of anyone or anything but Jordan when she was in the same bed with him.

  Even now she pulled at his thoughts. The hand resting on her thigh appeared delicate—even more so than Maddie’s. But it wasn’t. He’d seen the way she’d handled Brutus and felt the strength of those slender fingers on his skin.

  He let his gaze drift to her face—that so familiar face. It too looked delicate, fragile, sensitive. It was all of those. She was all of those. But beneath all that, she had a strength of purpose and a generous heart. He’d watched her with Pete and with his family. If Lea and her mother hadn’t said they were going to stay the night with the old man, Jordan would have insisted on keeping him company.

  He’d nearly lost her. The thought frightened him, infuriated him. The impulse filled him again—to take her away somewhere safe. To lift her onto his horse and ride off into the sunset with her, just as if they were characters in one of those Western movies she was so fond of.

  But they weren’t. And they couldn’t run away from reality—not while she was being stalked by a killer.

  Without looking, he could tell the sky was beginning to lighten behind him. And he sensed deep in his gut that time was going to run out on them. He thought of Maddie in New York. The attacks on both the twins had escalated. He didn’t have to be a security expert or a police detective or even an army MP to know that their would-be killer was getting desperate. And while desperate people could make mistakes, they also could get lucky.

  Jordan stirred again, and this time her eyes opened. He watched her run one hand over the space in the bed where he’d been. “Cash?”

  “Right here.” He moved to the side of the bed.

  “I thought you’d gone.”

  “I’m not going anywhere.” He slid in beside her.

  Her arms curled around him as she settled her body against his. �
��Is it time to get up?”

  “Not yet.” He pulled her closer. “Go back to sleep.”

  “Aren’t you going to seduce me?”

  “You need the sleep.”

  She began to nibble on his lips. “What about you?”

  Cash knew what he needed, what he wanted. But everything was happening so fast. He needed time to convince her it was what she wanted, too.

  “I want you to love me,” she murmured against his mouth. “I do.”

  Cash’s mind began to reel. The words had slipped out of him, and as his heart tumbled into freefall, he realized that they were true. He did love her. When had it happened? How?

  Even as he tried to recall, his body was slowly being seduced. Her lips, softened by sleep, were busy on his, teasing, tormenting. There was something familiar about her touch as her fingers grazed over his skin. And something new about her taste. When had it turned so dark, so addictive?

  She brushed her mouth over his eyes, his face, his throat. There were so many things he wanted to tell her. So many questions he wanted the answers to. But now wasn’t the time. With her name on his lips, he let himself sink into the sensations.

  Using her mouth and hands, she began to work her way down his body, nipping one place, caressing another. Ribbons of fire skipped and skimmed along his nerve endings. Her tongue toyed with his nipples, then moved slowly lower, leaving a trail of ice and searing heat in its wake.

  Cash tried to reach for her, but his arms were suddenly heavy. When she finally took the hard length of him into her hands, he felt his bones melt. And as her mouth closed around him, pleasure shot to a peak that bordered on agony.

  Helpless. He couldn’t move, could barely think. No woman had ever made him helpless before. The feeling streamed through his blood, slithered up his spine and steamed his brain. His world had narrowed to Jordan and the slow, steady movement of her mouth on him.

  She’d set out to seduce him, to lose herself in him one more time before they had to face the realities of the day. But every time his breath caught or his skin trembled, her own pleasure shot to new heights. Each time he shuddered or moaned her name, her needs grew stronger. Should she have known that in making a man weak she would become as seduced as he was?