She held the largest frame to the light. An elegant couple sat in the middle of the beautiful family shot. The man bore a striking resemblance to Greg, right down to the smile. The woman had Greg’s aqua-colored eyes. A college-aged Greg stood behind them with a careless grin and Celia rested her hand on her mother’s chair.
Tears stung her eyes. She couldn’t imagine the pain of Greg’s loss or what he’d seen. Beautiful people were supposed to lead blessed lives.
A photo of Greg in a tux caught her eye. His arm was draped around a stunning brunette, who gazed up at him in adoration. A homecoming or prom photo, maybe.
Her stomach clenched.
The bright moonlight flickered and she guiltily jerked her head up. Large, dark shapes glided past the large windows—men dressed in dark clothes that merged with the night. The rush of blood in her ears was deafening.
Grateful she hadn’t turned on the light, she spun on her heel and hurried from the room. She froze at the threshold of the great room and her heart sank. For the life of her, she couldn’t remember where Greg had said his room was. Panic chewed a hole in her composure. Damn, damn and double damn.
“What are you doing up?”
She jumped a foot and pressed a palm over her pounding heart. “You scared the crap out of me. Why are you sitting in the dark?”
“It’s not all that dark.”
He lounged on the long living-room couch, his wrist draped over an upraised knee and looking every inch the spoiled son of bazillionaire parents. No wonder the chief of police ignored his less-than-deferential attitude. Greg’s family probably owned the City Council and donated obscene amounts of money to the city.
“I couldn’t sleep. What’s your excuse for walking around in the middle of the night in a T-shirt?”
Oh, freak! Ally shrank back. Her lace-covered butt smacked against the cool wall.
“I’m not objecting.” Greg’s voice did that rough, husky thing that turned her brain to mush. “You look…edible.”
A muffled thud from the front of the house shattered the moment as effectively as a slap across the face.
“Someone’s outside,” she blurted in a panicked rush. “Several someones. I saw them pass…uh, my window.”
Ally sucked a breath into fear-tightened lungs.
Before she could exhale, Greg was across the room and flattened her against the smooth wood-paneled wall. All his glorious heat pressed against her. Her head reeled. She might have gone cross-eyed.
She shook her head to clear the lust fogging her brain.
“You chose an inopportune time to flaunt your luscious body.” His breath whispered across her ear. She shivered.
“Uhm-hmm.” Speech deserted her. Great. Another thirty seconds and she’d be incapable of breathing too.
Another muffled thud. Right, she should be freaking out. Running. Hiding. She shoved against Greg.
He didn’t budge.
“Stick close. We’re going into my room so you can put on some clothes, unless you were planning on providing a distraction.”
“No,” she squeaked.
They moved across the living room toward the other wing of the house, hugging the shadows. Down a long hallway, around a corner and into a big bedroom, where he tossed her sweatpants and a sweatshirt. As quickly as her shaking fingers allowed, she pulled them on and stuffed her feet into the too-big sneakers he set on the floor in front of her.
He knelt to tie the shoelaces, and the protective wall around her heart nearly shattered. How was she supposed to maintain her defenses? How could an obnoxious playboy, hard-nosed cop, protective gentleman and brother, willing to sacrifice his dreams and future for his sister, all be wrapped up in one guy?
Gently, he pushed her into a chair in a dark corner of the room. He leaned down and caged her in with his arms. Her pulse tap-danced. “Stay here while I deal with our visitors. Got it?”
By himself? But…he could get hurt. Ally tamped down her alarm. Greg was a trained police officer. He could handle the situation without any assistance from the amateur hour. She nodded.
With her defenses down around her ankles, he leaned in and pressed a hard, fast kiss to her lips.
Her lips sang from the contact as he disappeared out the doorway, melting into the shadows with disturbing ease. Her stomach tied itself in painful knots. Just him against at least two men. Big men.
A grunt and thump sounded in the hall. She clutched the chair arms and her pulse galloped out of control.
A whisper of air across her skin made the hair on her nape rise.
A shadow crossed the doorway and she shrank down in the chair. Think invisible. Another thud. She shivered. What if that was Greg’s head thudding on the hard floor? The thought of him injured, bleeding, possibly unconscious…she leaned forward and dug her nails into the chair arms.
Oh, man, don’t let anything happen to him. And not just because she would be on her own, trying to fend off men intent on doing her bodily harm. Something much, much worse drove her fear. She cared about him. Deep down to the bottom of her cowardly soul, cared. Holy crap, she was in so much trouble.
A big shadow appeared in the doorway. She released her breath, swearing silently. Despite the dark, despite her fear, she instantly recognized Greg. His broad shoulders, narrow hips, the tilt of his head, his scent.
“You okay?”
“Fine. You?” Her voice didn’t quaver. Don’t be silly. She had nerves of granite, innards of copper, a backbone lined with steel. Rather like a house.
“Fine.”
He crossed the room, rummaged inside a closet, shut the door with his foot and disappeared into the hallway again. Several thumps, muttered curses and low groans later, he returned.
“That takes care of Larry and Moe. Thankfully, they left Curly at home.” The white of his grin flashed in the darkness. “I’m going to call the captain and get a cruiser out here with some guys we trust to pick ’em up. In the meantime,” he cracked his knuckles and she winced. “I’m going to have a little conversation with them.”
Ally drew her legs up in front of her and wrapped her arms around her knees. Danger followed her everywhere. World-weary in a way she hadn’t expected to ever feel, she leaned back while Greg did his thing.
Numb and emotionless, she went through the motions of answering the police questions when they arrived. By the time the morning sunrise filtered across the sky, the police left with Dumb and Dumber in tow. One cruiser stayed behind to play watch-dog. An entire night passed without any more sleep than the nap she’d caught before dinner. Exhaustion dragged like an anchor and coffee did little to boost her energy level.
The shower running in Greg’s room piqued enough interest to give her a brief surge. Hormones, good to the last drop. She wandered out to the deck overlooking the lake. The cool morning air shot another rush along her veins.
A walk would get the blood pumping and clear her head. She set her coffee cup on the railing. Maybe even rid her of the pointless affection for Greg clogging her arteries.
The early morning sunlight barely breached the treetops as she climbed the hill opposite the lake. At the top, she turned. Smoke drifted lazily from the chimney of Greg’s house, wrapping the nearby trees in haze like a scene from a fairy tale. A little pang ricocheted across her heart. She loved this place too much and she couldn’t stay.
Ignoring the pinch of her borrowed hiking boots, she started walking. At least Greg’s oversized clothing helped keep out the cool mountain air. As she traipsed along, the bird chirps and trills combined with the sway of the trees, a soft rustling backdrop to the quiet noises of nature waking. Crunching pine needles beneath her feet filled the air with a pungent scent, and the trees enveloped her in their protective embrace.
Misery choked off her pleasure. Head down, arms wrapped tight, she mulled over her situation. Nowhere to go and not the slightest flippin’ idea what was going on. She still couldn’t quite wrap her brain around Michael’s death.
Why on
God’s green earth would someone kill him? A geek to the core and almost as boring as her. He had often helped with her workload. Just a few weeks ago, he’d taken a thick pile of folders off her desk and had them completed and returned within a freakishly fast two hours.
He had no social life that she knew of. No extended family to pull him into the real world on a periodic, painful basis. His parents were elderly and lived in a retirement village in Florida.
She tripped over an exposed tree root. The trees thickened, the forest becoming deeper and more mysterious. Strange noises had her nerves leaping and snapping. She paused, spinning in a slow circle.
Where was she? More important, which direction was Greg’s cottage?
She wracked her brain. She watched the nature channel avidly; travel documentaries fascinated her in the way fairy tales enthralled eight-year-old girls and HGTV starred in her DTV recordings.
Something about moss and trees?
She circled a thick tree trunk. One side seemed furry. What did that mean? Screwing her eyes shut, she tapped her forehead. Something about the direction of the sunset?
Her lips twisted. For all she knew, she was walking through a narrow strip of trees alongside a mall or golf course. She was no Eagle Scout. Or whatever the girl equivalent would be. If there was a girl equivalent.
She stopped, tilting her head and listening intently for some sign of humanity. Traffic noises, the hum of electricity, the sound of children playing.
A twig snapped and she spun around.
Nothing moved in the dappled sunshine. The ground rose and fell in gently rolling hills as far as she could see. Nothing seemed out of place. She rubbed her arms and put a hand to the nape of her neck to soothe the hair standing on end. A shiver snaked up her spine as she started walking again. Toward the cottage, she hoped.
She tried to attribute her quickened pace to over-taxed nerves. Numerous animals played in the surrounding woods. Deer, possum, squirrels, bears…wait, bears? She wrapped her arms tight around her middle. Were there bears out here?
She ignored the next twig snap. Sure, it sounded closer. Coincidence. She’d probably disturbed a napping bunny.
Down the next hillside, a darkly shaded spot caught her eye. No longer able to ignore her screaming instincts, she squeezed into the little grove of trees. Hunkering down amidst the tree trunks and large boulders, she waited in breathless silence. Minutes passed, counted off by the anxious beats of her heart. Her nerves grew taut, leaping and quivering at every wing flap overheard and rasp of scraping branches.
A shadow passed, too tall, lean and two-legged to be mistaken for anything but a man. There was no reason for anyone to be out here in the middle of nowhere, unless he was following her. Could be Greg, but just as easily could not be Greg.
She felt like smacking her head against the moss-covered rock she crouched behind. Instead, she hefted a sizable branch and waited. Another twig snapped, this one right behind her.
She jerked to her feet with all the grace of a marionette in the hands of a three-year-old and spun, swinging the branch in a wide arc. She caught nothing but air. The branch slipped from her hand and went sailing into the dirt yards away. She gasped. Heart racing, she fisted her hands and turned to face him.
Greg leaned a broad shoulder against a nearby tree trunk, arms crossed. The glitter of green fire in his eyes transmitted the depth of his irritation.
Giddy relief bubbled. “Hey.” She smiled, adding a little wave for good measure. “Imagine running into you out here.”
“Yeah, imagine.”
“What brings you to this neck of the woods?” She arched a brow, lounging against a boulder and crossing her arms.
“Funny. If you’ve finished your little hike, we should head back. I haven’t eaten.”
The tight smile accompanying his words brightened her mood even more. She was thrilled to discover exactly how contrary she could be and her smile broadened.
“Oh, but I was just getting warmed up,” she said with a moue of distress. “It’s so peaceful. I could just get lost out here.”
His eyes narrowed. He took a step forward, all pretense of relaxed and casual gone with the wind. A strange zing of anticipation shot through her. Effortlessly stepping over the surrounding rocks, he closed the distance until he loomed over her, invading her personal space.
“I do not find any of this amusing.” His warm breath feathered across her cheeks. “I did not wake up this morning anticipating saving you from yourself.”
The fact that he was right didn’t help. Still, his condescension grated. Too much fear, too much uncertainty, too many emotions had run rampant in the last forty-eight hours, and she threw caution to the wind.
“I certainly do not need you to save me from myself, you…you…caveman!”
“Caveman, huh?”
He pressed his lips to hers. She wrapped her arms around his neck and sank her fingers into the too-long hair covering his neck. A low groan reverberated from him. He angled his head, deepening the kiss. His arms went around her and his rough hands found her bottom, lifting her off the boulder to align their bodies. The hard throb of his arousal against her pelvis brought to life an answering ache.
She wriggled, needing closer. The slide of his tongue and his masculine taste drove her desire higher. He nudged her legs apart and braced his foot against the rock behind them so she straddled his hard thigh.
She gasped and he sucked on her tongue in a move so suggestive her hips twitched. Arms firmly wrapped around her, he swung around and sat on the boulder with her astride him. She was too busy freeing buttons to give it much thought.
Shoving the shirt off his shoulders, they both moaned when her hands smoothed over his tightly muscled shoulders. She pulled her mouth from his to latch onto the skin between his neck and shoulder, lightly raking her fingernails over his back. He lifted her sweatshirt.
Licking, nibbling and kissing every square inch of his bare skin went straight to her head like a finely aged brandy, traveling down her spine to increase the urgent throbbing between her legs.
An owl screeched overhead. Ally glanced up and caught sight of the big-bodied bird gliding away. She looked at Greg. Awareness replaced passion and heat stung her cheeks.
“I’m too heavy.” She slid off his lap.
Greg did nothing to stop her. Muscles flexed as he reached for his shirt. What had she been thinking? She’d responded to him like a desperate woman. Her face heated and she turned away, crossing her arms. It wasn’t like he shoved her off, after all. He’d meticulously located each one of her tonsils with his tongue.
“Let’s go, Snow White. Before we get any unexpected company. A guy with one eye and a walker could follow the trail you left.”
“Ha-ha.” She kicked a rock and hurried to catch up with his long-legged stride.
“You should be thanking me.” He glanced over his shoulder. “If I hadn’t found you, someone else would have. You wouldn’t enjoy meeting any of the sweet fellas who’ve been following you.”
“Thank you,” she said, sticky sweet, baring her teeth at his broad back.
He glanced back and chuckled.
She glanced down at the baggy, unflattering sweat pants she’d wandered off in. They had accumulated a healthy collection of pine needles and dirt. Like she didn’t already feel as attractive as a hog lying in manure. In August.
Okay, so maybe that was a teensy exaggeration. Still…not one of her better days. She hadn’t even bothered to glance in a mirror when she dragged her hair into a ponytail earlier. Not a stitch of makeup, her teeth felt fuzzy and her borrowed clothes were sagging down her butt. Not in a flattering, look-how-skinny-I-am, kind of way, either.
“You coming?”
Greg stood at the top of a hill, waiting for her to catch up. Sharply lit, he looked big and tough, capable of fending off any number of bad guys. Which he was. Raw masculine appeal vibrated off him. Her heart skipped a beat or three, intimidation mingling with attraction as
she trudged up beside him.
Face averted and arms defensively crossed, she glared down at the valley. Greg’s black Camaro shone in the sunshine beside the black-and-white cruiser she’d slipped past earlier. Fat lot of help the policeman was, snoring like a chainsaw in the driver’s seat.
“Not your best idea.”
Her muscles tightened and her teeth sank into her lower lip.
“Anything could have happened. One of the goons who showed up last night might have caught up with you out here. What would you have done then?”
She turned, helpless anger churning in her belly. “All I did was go for a walk.”
“There are no solo walks, strolls or meandering in your immediate future.” He closed the gap until a scant inch separated them. “I’m sticking so close to you, pretty soon you won’t know where I leave off and you begin.”
Ally shivered, nipples tightening. She snapped her spine straight and sniffed. Caveman.
“As if.” She stomped down the hillside. Not an easy thing to do in too-small shoes and soft dirt that muffled her footsteps. The aggravating man stayed right beside her.
Had she really said “As if” like some big-haired, bubble-gum-chewing eighties throw-back?
He snagged her arm just inside the door of the cottage.
She sighed and faced him. “What?”
His eyes narrowed and darkened. He traced her lower lip with a fingertip then leaned down and replaced his finger with his mouth. Too confused to smother her response, she wrapped her arms around his neck and parted her lips. She’d give as good as she got and damn the consequences. Desire as wild and reckless as his kiss surged. She rocked against the ridge of his erection.
She slid her foot up his leg, tugging him closer. His mouth kissed a trail of fire along her jaw and down her neck. He cupped and squeezed her breasts. Rising to her tiptoes, she aligned their bodies, grabbed hold of his butt and pulled him into her.
“Damn, baby.” He went back to nibbling the sensitive skin along her neck. Her eyes slid closed. Her hips found a desperate rhythm against the hard ridge of his erection. She needed… oh, yeah. Right there.
Sweet Deception Page 9
