Breathless

by HELEN HARDT

  Dinner with Joe and Melanie at the best restaurant in Grand Junction wasn’t how I’d planned to spend the evening, but Mom insisted I go. I deserved it, she’d said, for taking the Steels’ offer and making a better life for my son.

  Melanie radiated health and energy, her blond hair lustrous and thick around her shoulders and her cheeks a rosy pink. She’d just entered the third trimester of her pregnancy, and she was ravenous, devouring a sixteen-ounce hunk of prime rib.

  “I can hardly keep up with her,” Joe said, laughing.

  “Please,” Melanie said, having just swallowed. “The day I have your appetite is the day I weigh three hundred pounds.”

  “You’ve hardly gained any weight at all that I can see,” I said truthfully. “Except your belly, of course.”

  “Ha!” she said. “I’m just good at hiding it. I’ll be hitting the gym big-time with Ruby after the baby is born.”

  “You’ll look perfect as always,” Joe said, his gaze upon his wife.

  Love. God, they were so in love it was almost sickening.

  I was truly happy for both of them, but being in close proximity with all the Steel brothers, who were as pussy-whipped as all get-out, wasn’t going to be the easiest thing to deal with, especially not while I was lusting after their baby sister.

  “We figure you can start next week,” Joe said. “That’ll give you a few days to get settled.”

  “Hold up,” I said. “It’ll take some time to move everything to the ranch.”

  “Don’t worry about that. We’re hiring movers. You and Evelyn won’t have to lift a finger.”

  I twirled my mashed potatoes with my fork. “We still have to pack.”

  “They’ll handle that.”

  “I’m perfectly cap—”

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah. We know you are. But we’re happy to do this. It’s a write-off, you know?”

  I sighed. “Look. I’m not complaining, but you’re making this too easy on me. I’m beginning to feel like a charity case.”

  Joe shook his head, and the emotion in his brown eyes was almost…hurt. “None of us think of you that way. We’ve been through this.”

  “I know, but—”

  “No buts. You accepted the offer. We need you, and if we can make the change easier on you in the process, we want to do it.”

  I opened my mouth to respond when my phone buzzed. I looked down. Shit. Ted Morse again.

  “Do you need to take that?” Joe asked.

  “I’m not taking it. It’s Ted Morse.”

  “Colin’s dad?” Joe furrowed his brow. “Fucking bastard.”

  “Jonah,” Melanie admonished. “This is a nice place.”

  “Sorry. But you know what I think of that asshole.”

  “Jonah!”

  “He’s right,” I agreed. “The guy tried to have him framed.”

  “I get it,” she said. “I don’t disagree. Trust me.”

  “What the hell does he want?”

  Melanie just rolled her eyes, apparently tired of arguing about language in a rather quiet upscale restaurant.

  “He called me this morning. Said he had information for me and wanted to meet.”

  “And you said…”

  “Hell, no. Sorry, Melanie.”

  “It’s okay. I give up,” she said.

  “I told him to give it to me over the phone, but he said the FBI might have tapped us.”

  “The FBI? The case is settled.”

  “That’s what I told him. Then I hung up.”

  Joe shook his head. “He’s looking for a payoff. The guy’s a mercenary if I ever met one.”

  “Then why call me? I don’t have anything.”

  “Maybe he got wind of our offer.”

  “How would he be able to do that?”

  “I have no idea, but I think I’ll have those PIs, Mills and Johnson, check out our houses just in case. They’re expensive but worth every penny. They can check your place too.”

  “You don’t need to. Especially if we’re moving.”

  “Why don’t you just meet with him?” Melanie asked.

  “Because he’s just looking for cash,” Joe said.

  “You’re most likely right,” she said, “but what if he actually has some information? Couldn’t he ask for cash over the phone?”

  “Good point,” Bryce said, “and he’s got to know I don’t have any money.”

  “I don’t buy it,” Joe said. “He’s up to something.”

  “If he is,” Melanie said, “don’t you think it’s better that we know exactly what he’s up to? You and Bryce could meet him together. Take Rosie with you.”

  I laughed. Rosie was Joe’s Glock 23 that was almost always strapped to his ankle.

  “Not a bad idea, actually,” I said. “My first instinct was to ignore him, but I have to admit I’m curious.”

  “I don’t trust the man,” Joe said.

  “I know that. With good reason.” I took a sip of my bourbon. “I don’t trust him either, but if he’s right, and the Feds are still watching all of us, we need to know why.”

  “He’s bluffing,” Joe said.

  “Then let’s call him on it,” I said.

  Before Joe could answer, the server popped by to take our dessert and coffee orders. Once we’d ordered, I said, “Excuse me for a minute. I’ll go out into the lobby and return his call. I’ll see if I can get anything out of him.”

  “You sure?” Joe asked.

  “Yeah. Your lovely wife convinced me.” I smiled and stood.

  Once I found a quiet corner in the lobby, I returned the call.

  “Ted Morse.”

  “Bryce Simpson returning your call,” I said curtly.

  “Change your mind about meeting me?”

  “I did. Tell me where and when, and I’ll be there.”

  “Let’s get one thing straight. I’ll be talking to you and only you. Don’t bring any brawn with you.”

  I was a little offended. He didn’t consider me brawn? I could take him out with a look. “Brawn? You mean the Steels?”

  “Those three are animals.”

  “Jonah Steel is an animal who could have had you arrested for extortion,” I reminded him.

  “You think that scares me? I have the best attorneys in the business.”

  “And you think the Steels don’t?” This guy was a trip. He might be worth millions, but the Steels had passed a billion.

  No response.

  “You’re well off. Why you thought it was a good idea to try to blackmail the Steels is beyond me.”

  “They hurt my son.”

  “Talon gave him an ass whooping.”

  “For trying to see his fiancée.”

  “His ex-fiancée,” I reminded Ted. Words lodged in my throat. That was nothing compared to what my father did to him. I didn’t say it. I couldn’t. But it was true. So very true.

  “You know what I think, Ted?” I said. “I think you blame me for what my father did to Colin. I can almost understand that, being a father myself. So why are you helping me? Why do you want to give me information? Something here stinks big-time.”

  He paused a few seconds. Then, “This isn’t over. The Feds are asking questions. Asking me questions because I won’t allow them to talk to my son.”

  “Your son is an adult. You have no say in who talks to him.”

  “I’ve held them off so far, but the bust on the island wasn’t completely successful. My son isn’t safe. You’re not safe, Simpson. And neither are the Steels.”

  Chapter Twenty–Five

  Marjorie

  Jade was feeling better, so after getting the boys off to school, I drove to Grand Junction to visit my mother. I tried my best to get to the center once a week, but with Jade and the boys needing me, I didn’t always make it.

  My mother, with a wrinkle-free face and only a few strands of silver in her nearly black hair, looked beautiful as always. Also, as always, she carried around her realistic infant doll—a doll she
was convinced was actually me.

  “Hi, Mom,” I said as cheerfully as I could.

  “Shh,” she said, rocking the doll. “I need to get Angela down for her nap.”

  I nodded. What did she think when I called her Mom? I had no idea, but she never argued the point. Since Dale and Donny had appeared in our lives, they had become young Joe and Talon to her. Ryan no longer existed in her mind, as he wasn’t a child of her body.

  Ryan had come to see her once. After all, she’d been his mother for the first seven years of his life.

  He’d never returned.

  It was too painful for him.

  It was painful for all of us. We’d all thought her dead until recently.

  Daphne Steel laid the doll in the bassinet beside her bed. Then she turned to me. “What brings you here?”

  “I just wanted to see how you’re doing.”

  “The usual. The boys are at camp again. I miss them.”

  Her doctors had told us it was best to play along. “Yes,” I said. “I do too.”

  “But Brad came by.”

  I stopped myself from jolting. I didn’t want to upset her. She’d never mentioned my father since his death months ago. “Did he?”

  “Yes, he did. It was nice to see him. He’s at camp with the boys most of the time. Such a good father.”

  I had a few bones to pick with that one, but I didn’t voice them. Brad Steel hadn’t been the ultimate father, though he had stuck around until I turned eighteen. He’d kept secrets from us, though. Major secrets, not the least of which was that he and our mother were both alive. He’d also kept Talon from getting the help he needed after his abduction.

  I could never forgive my father. But my mother? Her insanity was not her fault. She’d been driven to it by my father and his actions.

  “When did Father come by?” I asked.

  “It was just yesterday, I think. He looks different.”

  “How?”

  “His hair has gone gray, mostly. But you know, he’s getting older. We all are.” She smiled and then cocked her head to the side.

  Looking at my mother was like seeing myself in thirty-plus years. I was the only child who resembled her. Joe and Talon both looked more like our father, and of course Ryan had no genetic relation to her.

  My mother spoke again. “He seemed shorter too. But you know, we shrink as we age, right?”

  “How much shorter?”

  “I don’t know. I could look him right in the eye.”

  Odd. My father was at least six inches taller than my mother. I definitely had some questions, but I didn’t want to confuse her.

  “Are you sure it was Dad?”

  “Of course. Who else would it be?”

  Who else indeed? I’d ask the nurse on duty later. “Would you like me to read to you?”

  Reading was often how we passed our time. She lived in her own little world, so she didn’t understand anything I told her about Joe, Talon, and me or what was actually going on in our lives. She didn’t know they’d gotten married and were both expecting children.

  “That would be nice,” she said. “Let’s read Austen today.”

  My mother loved Jane Austen and Charles Dickens. We’d already gotten through Emma and Great Expectations. Now we were working on Oliver Twist and Pride and Prejudice. Funny how she always remembered which book we were reading.

  I picked the book up off her table, sat down, and opened it.

  Before I could begin, though, a nurse came in. “Time for your medication, Mrs. Steel.”

  “Could it wait? This lovely lady was just about to read to me, and the pills make me so sleepy.”

  “I suppose I can give you another fifteen minutes.” The nurse smiled.

  “Wait,” I said. “Could I speak to you for a moment?” I nodded toward the hallway.

  “Of course, Ms. Steel.”

  “Excuse me, Mother. I’ll be right back.” I followed the nurse into the hallway.

  “Did a man come to see my mother yesterday?” I asked her.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t work yesterday. But you can check the visitors’ log when you leave.”

  “Perfect. Thanks.” I would do exactly that.

  “I’d like to see who visited my mother in the last week,” I told the desk clerk after the nurse had come back to give my mother her meds.

  “Name?”

  “Hers? Daphne Steel.”

  “Okay.” He grabbed a clipboard. “Uh…looks like her last visitor was Marjorie Steel last week.”

  “That’s me.”

  “There you go, then.”

  “She said she had a male visitor yesterday.”

  “Not possible. Every visitor has to sign in.”

  I tapped my fingers on the counter, biting my lower lip. My mother could easily be mistaken. She was mentally ill and lived in her own little reality. She could have imagined a male visitor.

  Yet something nagged at me. If she were going to imagine a male visitor, wouldn’t she imagine someone she knew? She said it was my father, but she also said he didn’t look like himself.

  “Can you tell me which aide was assigned to her yesterday?” I asked. “The nurse I talked to today said she was off.”

  “Uh…sure.” He brought up a different screen on his computer. “Lori was here in the morning, and Barry for the late-afternoon shift. Mary Ann was on night shift, but we don’t allow visitors at night.”

  “Is there any way I can get in touch with Lori and Barry?”

  “I can’t give out personal information. Sorry.”

  I twisted my lips. “All right. When will they be back on duty?”

  “Lori is here now. She just clocked in.”

  “Great. May I see her?”

  “I’ll call her for you. Go wait in the lobby.”

  “Sure. Thanks.”

  I took a seat in the small waiting area. A few minutes later, a round middle-aged woman greeted me.

  “I’m Lori. Are you Ms. Steel?”

  I stood and held out my hand. “Marjorie, please. Thank you for talking to me. I understand you were on duty yesterday, caring for my mother?”

  “Yeah. Mrs. Steel is never any problem.”

  “I’m glad to hear that. I do have a question, though. I just saw my mother, and she says she had a male visitor yesterday. A man with gray hair?”

  “Not while I was on the shift, ma’am.”

  I truly hated it when older people—or anyone, for that matter—called me ma’am. “She says it was my father, but my father is deceased. And he never had more than a few strands of gray hair.”

  “I don’t mean to upset you, Ms. Steel, but she probably imagined it.”

  “She definitely could have, but wouldn’t she have imagined my father as she remembered him? She even said he’d grown shorter. How does that make any sense?”

  “She’s not well, ma’am.”

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. I knew all that. And I had to remember that she saw Dale and Donny as young Joe and Talon, despite the fact that the boys were green-eyed and blond. Still, something niggled at me. “Do you know when Barry is coming in?”

  “I only keep track of my own schedule. You can ask at the front desk.”

  “Okay. Thank you for your time, Lori.”

  “No problem.” She smiled and walked out of the waiting area.

  After finding out Barry would be in the next day for the afternoon shift, I left. Jade and the boys would be needing me.

  I jumped when my phone dinged with a text message from Talon.

  Come home. We need to talk.

  Chapter Twenty–Six

  Bryce

  I squirmed in my seat like a high school boy. Marjorie was on her way home to join in the impromptu meeting at the main ranch house. Joe, Talon, Ryan, and I sat in Talon’s office discussing my phone call with Ted Morse. He’d hung up after the ominous statement that none of us were safe.

  “He’s bluffing,” Ryan said.

  “That’s my take too,
” I said, “but we still need to look into this. I have a son. Tal, you have two kids, and you and Joe both have one on the way. They can’t be in harm’s way.”

  “Agreed,” Joe said.

  I’d argued with them when they’d suggested bringing Marjorie into this discussion. She was so young, had been through so much already. Why worry her more? But they’d ultimately overruled me. She was their sister, after all. Their sister, and nothing to me.

  Even I didn’t buy that one.

  Especially not when she knocked softly at the door and entered after Talon’s, “Come in, Sis.”

  She walked in, looking so effortlessly beautiful as always. Her long dark hair was pulled into a high ponytail, and she wore skinny jeans, short cowboy boots, and a light-green tank top with lacy straps. Man, did those lean, muscled arms look great in a tank. And her chest…

  My groin tightened at the sight.

  She walked in stoically. “I’m feeling a little like the odd man out here, no pun intended.”

  “Some stuff might be going down.”

  “You’re telling me. I was visiting Mom this morning.”

  “How is she?” Joe asked.

  “Same,” Marjorie said. “But she claims she had a male visitor yesterday. A guy with gray hair who she says was Dad.”

  “Gray hair?” Talon said.

  “Yup. Apparently Dad got shorter too.”

  “Well, we know it wasn’t Dad,” Ryan said. “He’s dead. We all witnessed it.”

  “Maybe she imagined it?” Talon said.

  “She could have,” Marj said. “But if that were the case, wouldn’t she have imagined him as he looked the last time she actually saw him?”

  “So you think someone was actually there.”

  “There’s no log of anyone visiting her. I checked. But someone must have been there, someone she could describe, even if she thinks it was Dad. You know, how she thinks the boys are you two”—she nodded toward Talon and Joe—“even though they’re blond?”

  “Okay,” Ryan said. “This all just got weirder.” He then explained to Marj about the phone call I’d had with Ted Morse last night.

  Marjorie’s eyes widened, and her beautiful face paled a bit. “Wow,” was all she said.