The Missing Hour
Page 20
“She’d been liquidating them. She wasn’t planning on running off with Roth poor. She was going to do it with my money.”
“But—”
“That was your one question, so let’s go.”
Single file, they headed into the office, Beth’s heart pounding.
“We stashed it behind the bookcase,” Cole said.
“Not very original.”
“Yeah, well, I wasn’t in a very original frame of mind. But it took two of us to move the thing, so I’m going to need some help.”
Beth stood looking everywhere but at Mark, afraid that if he caught her gaze he’d realize something was up. Cole knew as well as she did that the journal was locked in her desk, which had to mean he had a plan. She just hoped with all her heart it was a good one.
He walked over to the bookcase, pulled an arm-load of books off a shelf and piled them on her desk.
“This would go faster if you gave me a hand,” he told Mark.
“Sure. And you’d probably like it if I asked Beth to hold the gun, too. Help him,” he added, to her.
She began moving books, desperately wishing she knew what Cole had in mind.
“We’d better get the paperweights down before we fill up the desk,” he said, shooting her a quick glance.
Her pulse began doing triple time. Whatever he was going to try, he was going to do it now.
“Shove some of those books closer to the edge,” he told her, nodding toward the desk. “Make room for these,” he added, reaching for a couple of the largest paperweights.
She turned toward the desk, her mind racing. What could she do to help?
Shove some of those books closer to the edge.
Oh, Lord, she’d almost missed what he’d been trying to tell her. Zeroing in on one of the highest stacks, she gave it a push that sent it tumbling toward the floor.
After that, everything happened so fast there was barely time for her brain to register it.
Mark glanced toward the falling books. Something flew across the room. It struck the side of his head, he staggered off balance, and her office exploded with a deafening sound. Then Cole tackled Mark and they both went down.
Seconds later, Cole had his knee in the small of Mark’s back, had Mark’s hands pinned to the floor above his head, and was telling her to get the gun.
Looking quickly around, she spotted it under the desk. She scooped it up and wheeled back toward the men, relief flooding her when she saw that Mark wasn’t even trying to struggle.
Then she realized he was barely conscious. And that there was an angry-looking lump forming on the side of his head—that what had flown across the room and hit him was one of her paperweights.
For another few moments, she simply stood gazing down at the two of them, not sure if she felt more like laughing or crying. Mark, whom she’d trusted from childhood, had wanted to kill her. Cole, whom she’d known for barely any time at all, had saved her life.
And now everything in her world would be getting back to normal. Which meant that laughing made a lot more sense than crying.
“Nice going.” Cole nodded toward the books scattered on the floor.
She smiled, amazed at how easy it suddenly was.
THE FOLLOWING EVENING, once they’d finished cel-ebrating Beth’s father’s release with champagne, he said, “I guess I can’t thank you two any more than I already have. But if it hadn’t been for you…”
Leaving it at that, he stood up. “I’ve got to head home and get some sleep. You’d never believe how noisy a jail is at night.”
Beth and Cole walked him out through the office, then he reached for her and gave her a long, hard hug. “I’m sorry you had to learn about Larisa and me,” he whispered. “I’ve never been able to forgive myself for being that weak. I just hope you’ll be able to.”
“I’m going to try,” she whispered back.
“Good. Let’s start working on putting the past behind us.”
She nodded, but it would be a long time before they’d really be able to do that. They’d all have to testify at Mark’s trial, and until that was over and done with…
“I’ll call you soon,” he said.
She gave him another hug, then he shook hands with Cole and was gone.
“You know, I could use one of those hugs,” Cole told her.
Wrapping her arms around him, she held him tightly, feeling a little uncertain about where things were going from here.
Oh, she knew with all her heart what she wanted. She’d never fallen in love like this before—neither as quickly nor as deeply. But did Cole have the same, insane, “want to be with this person every second” feeling about her that she had about him?
“We haven’t had much chance to talk in the last twenty-four hours,” he said.
“I noticed,” she murmured. They’d spent until late last night with Rodger Ronalds and his partner. And by the time the detectives left, she and Cole had been talked out. All they’d wanted to do was make love, then fall asleep in each other’s arms. And today they’d spent the entire day at police headquarters.
“So, let’s talk now.” Taking her hand, Cole led her back into the living room.
She snuggled down beside him on the couch, telling herself not to be uneasy about what this talk might entail. But when he said, “I guess you don’t need a live-in bodyguard anymore,” her heart stood still.
His words meant that he’d be going back to his own apartment tonight. And if he was content to leave, he didn’t have that same feeling she had.
Tears filling her eyes, she gathered up every ounce of her self-control. “No, I guess, from now on, I’ll be safe without a bodyguard.”
“Then…well, hell, Beth, if I can’t use that as an excuse to stay here permanently, I was thinking that maybe we should get married.”
For half a second, she was sure she’d misheard him. Then the happiness bubbling up inside her put the champagne bubbles to shame.
“I mean, I realize this has been awfully fast,” he continued. “But I couldn’t love you any more if we’d known each other for a hundred years. So…what do you say?”
“I say yes,” she whispered.
She’d have said more if he hadn’t started kissing her.
But that was all right. Sometimes, there were better ways to say things than with words.
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‘HAVE I DONE something wrong?” Angie persisted, wishing Taylor would emit a sense of camaraderie instead of holding an impenetrable reserve.
‘Not at all,’ he assured her. ‘I would say a lot of things right. You seem to be fitting into our little Outback community very well. I’ve heard only good things about you.’
“They’re nice people,’ she said sincerely. Only the Maguire family kept her shut out of their hearts.
‘Yes,’ he agreed. Though I appreciate it’s taken considerable effort from you. It is a world away from what you’re used to.’
The control Angie had been exerting over her feelings snapped. He wasn’t as blatant as his aunt in his prejudice against her but she’d felt it coming through every word he’d spoken and she didn’t deserve any of it.
‘Don’t judge me by your wife!’
His jaw jerked. A flicker of some dark emotion destroyed the steady power of his probing gaze.
‘No two people are the same. If you don’t know that, you’re a man of very limited vision. So I come from the city as your wife did! That doesn’t stop me from being an individual in my own right’
She straightened up, proudly defiant, furiously angry with the situation. ‘I’m me. Angie Cordell. And it’s time you took the blinkers off your eyes, Taylor Maguire.’ Then she whirled away from him, too agitated by the explosive expulsion o
f her emotion to keep facing him.
The storm outside hadn’t yet eased. There was no-where to go. She stopped at the window, staring blindly at the torrential rain. The thundering on the roof was almost deafening but it wasn’t as loud as the silence behind her.
‘You want me to go, don’t you? You’ve given me a month’s respite and now you want me to leave and channel my energies somewhere else.’
‘I didn’t say that, Angie.’
‘You were working your way around it.’ Bitterness at his tactics spewed the suspicion. ‘Do you have your first choice of governess waiting in the wings?’
‘No. I said I’d give you a chance.’
‘Have you?’ She swung around to face him. ‘Have you really, Taylor?’
He hadn’t moved. He didn’t move now except to make a gesture of appeasement. ‘Angie, 1 was merely trying to ascertain how you felt.’
‘Then let me tell you your cynicism was shining through every word.’
He frowned, shook his head. ‘I didn’t mean to hurt you.’ The blue eyes fastened on hers with devastating sincerity. ‘I truly did not come in here to take you down or suggest you leave.’
Her heart jiggled painfully. He might be speaking the truth but the judgements were still there, the judgements that ruled his attitude towards her, that kept her shut out of his life, denied any real sharing with him, denied his confidence and trust. She didn’t know why it meant so much to her but it did. It did. And the need to fight for justice from him was as much a raging torrent inside her as the rain outside.
eISBN 978-14592-6162-4
THE MISSING HOUR
Copyright © 1998 by Dawn Stewardson
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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Printed in U.S.A.
Table of Contents
Cover Page
Table of Contents
Excerpt
Dear Reader
Dedication
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Preview
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