by Lisa Childs
He couldn’t imagine living with her, like Alfred Colton had lived with his mother-in-law. Abigail Jones was the one who’d opened the door for him. He had a feeling the spry seventysomething year old had beaten everyone else to the foyer.
“This is not a good time, Detective,” she told him, her green eyes as cold as her icy-silver hair. “We have just sat down to a family dinner.”
He’d seen them all through the tall dining room windows. Everyone had been staring back at him with different expressions of dread and fear and curiosity.
Sean had looked curious, like he wondered what lead Parker might be following up on. The Givens woman had looked scared, and the man next to her, Heath Colton, had put his arm around her as if to reassure or comfort her.
Joe still had doubts about that all-too-convenient alibi of Heath Colton’s, especially after talking to so many of his family members who hadn’t had a clue Heath was even dating his vice president. Some of those other family members had admitted to having no alibis, but Parker felt better about them because they clearly hadn’t felt they needed one.
Why had Heath felt like he needed one?
The brothers’ wills were to be read after their funerals. Well, now they could have the funerals, and Joe could find out exactly how much Heath gained from the deaths of his business partners.
“Why are you here?” Heath was the one who asked the question, with obvious dread, as he and the rest of the family joined Joe and the family matriarch in the foyer. All except for Kylie Givens.
She had remained in the dining room. Maybe because she wasn’t family—though Sean was here, his arm around January Colton’s shoulders. He wasn’t family yet, but it was clear that he would be one day, probably soon.
No. The other son was missing as well as Ms. Givens. Parker had noticed his vehicle parked on the driveway, though, so he was here. Or he’d been here. The sudden rumble of an engine indicated that someone was leaving. It could have been Ms. Givens.
“Detective Parker,” Heath Colton prodded him. “Why are you here?”
The twin widows, their hands clasped, stood near the oldest son. From their grim expressions, it was clear that the women knew...before he even said it. “We’re ready to release the bodies.”
The one with the longer hair, Heath’s mother, Fallon Colton, gasped while the one with the shorter hair, Farrah Colton, nodded in acceptance. “Thanks for letting us know. We’ll contact the funeral home.”
Fallon’s gasp turned into a sob, and she ran from the foyer. Farrah turned and headed after her.
“You should leave,” Mrs. Jones said. But she didn’t take the time to shove him out the door, instead she rushed after her daughters.
The others all left, too, but for Heath who stood in front of him, staring hard at him. Parker didn’t mind being alone with the businessman, with getting another shot at breaking that alibi of his, with breaking him like he had broken other suspects. If everything he’d heard about the man was true, though, Joe probably would have had more luck getting Ms. Givens to crack...unless she was the one who’d driven off.
Despite the hardness of Heath’s stare, there was emotion in his eyes, making them glisten. Hearing about the bodies, about the upcoming funerals, had affected him. Maybe that was grief glistening there.
Maybe Heath Colton wasn’t as ruthless as his business acquaintances claimed he was. Or maybe that was guilt in his gaze, and he was even more ruthless, ruthless enough to kill his own dad and uncle.
* * *
Heath pushed aside the pain that had gripped him from the detective bringing up their bodies, which had elicited for Heath that horrific memory of identifying those bodies. Along with the pain, he felt a twinge of guilt for not going after his mom and aunt to console them. His pain didn’t compare to what they were feeling.
To what the detective’s callousness had compounded.
Heath couldn’t do anything to ease their suffering but lash out at the man who’d increased it. “You didn’t need to come here to tell them that,” he said. “You could have had someone call.” That would have been less painful for them, less disruptive.
The detective offered a slight smile. “Coming here to notify them in person was a courtesy.”
Heath snorted in derision of the man’s idea of courtesy. “Yeah, right. Why did you really come here? Why are you harassing my family? Haven’t we been through enough?”
“I’m trying to get justice for your father and uncle,” Parker replied. “I’m trying to find their killer. Isn’t that what you want, as well?”
That fury inside Heath turned now—to the rightful target—to the monster who’d murdered his loved ones. “I want nothing more than to find their killer, but you’re not going to find the real suspect by interrogating my family. We all loved my dad and uncle too much to ever want to harm them.”
“Money is often a motive for murder,” Parker replied. “And it looks like with you as CEO of the company, you control most of that money now.”
Kylie handled most of the financial stuff. But Heath wasn’t going to involve her in the detective’s investigation any more than she had already involved herself when she’d provided him with a false alibi.
And ultimately, the big decisions were his to make anyway. So he replied with total honesty, “I would spend every damn dime in the Colton Connections’ account to bring my dad and uncle back.”
But money couldn’t bring them back. But it could help them find their killer.
“And I will. I’ll offer a reward. I’ll hire independent investigators,” he said. “I will do whatever necessary to do your job since you don’t seem to want to.”
Parker tensed and stood up straighter, so that he seemed to stare down at Heath. “I am here on a Sunday,” he said. “I am working this case nearly every waking hour. I want this killer caught, too.”
Heath believed him—even before Sean stepped forward and gripped his shoulder. “Joe is the best homicide detective with the department, Heath. He’ll find the son of a bitch responsible for the murders.”
“Thanks,” Parker told his coworker. “Unfortunately, we all know that sometimes that can take a while to sort through all the suspects before we find the real perpetrator.”
Heath bristled again. “There are not any suspects in this case,” he said. “Nobody inside my family or outside my family, who knew them, would hurt them. You’re wasting your time.”
“Or he’s avoiding his mother-in-law,” Sean remarked with a chuckle. “But thank you for the courtesy of stopping by with the news. It’ll be good for the family to have the funerals, to get some closure.”
“The funerals aren’t going to bring closure,” Heath said with total certainty that burying his dad and uncle wouldn’t make them feel any better. “The killer being caught might.” But he didn’t hold out much hope that anything would make this better, would lessen the pain of the loss of two such amazing men.
Tears burned his eyes—like they had when everyone had silently noted those empty chairs at the dining table. He wasn’t sure he would be able to blink them away this time, so he left the two lawmen standing in the foyer and rushed into the dining room. Blinded with emotion, he wasn’t sure who wrapped slender arms around him...until his pulse quickened in reaction.
Kylie held him, like she had that first horrible night after he’d identified the bodies. She held him and offered him comfort and friendship.
He found himself wanting more from her, though—so much more than friendship. So much more than the false alibi that was risking her freedom.
But what he wanted from her would risk his, and he’d always been so careful to protect it, to stay single.
* * *
“Let’s get out of here,” Kylie implored Heath. She felt bad for his mom and aunt, who were clearly distraught. But she felt the worst for him, with how the detective persisted in
treating him like the only suspect in the murders of his own father as well as his uncle.
Why and how couldn’t Parker see how badly Heath was hurting? His pain was so palpable to Kylie that she felt as hollow and empty inside as she knew that he did.
The two lawmen continued to talk in the foyer. So Kylie tugged Heath in the other direction. Everyone had gathered in the kitchen except for Jones. When the detective had rung the doorbell, Heath’s younger brother had headed for the back door while everyone else had headed to the front. But for her...
She hadn’t wanted to see the detective again. And she didn’t want to see him now either. She didn’t want to see any of the other Coltons right now. She didn’t want to intrude on what was a very intimate family moment. Because no matter how much she longed to have a big family of her own—this wasn’t it. She and Heath were lying to these people, and anything based on a lie would never last.
Heath must not have wanted to see his family either because he murmured, “There’s another door through here.” Closing his hand around hers, he led her into a dark-paneled library, out of the French doors and through a small courtyard to the front driveway.
Once they were outside, he still held her hand, his fingers entwined with hers. Her skin tingled from the contact. They’d left their coats in the foyer closet—where the lawmen were—but she didn’t actually feel cold.
Heat suffused her instead from Heath’s touch, from the way he looked at her, like she really mattered to him. Like he needed her.
He did need her now, as he reeled from his devastating losses. And being a potential suspect in those murders had to have compounded his pain.
Her heart aching for him, she rose up on tiptoe and pressed her lips to his. His mouth was warm, so he must not have been feeling the cold either. Then he parted his lips and the kiss got hotter yet, as his tongue teased hers.
His fingers slid into her hair, combing through the long tresses before clasping the back of her head. He kissed her passionately, his lips nibbling gently at hers.
Her pulse quickened, and her heart pounded as desire overwhelmed her. She wanted more than his kiss. She wanted Heath.
Maybe she’d let all those comments from his family get to her, get her thinking that maybe they were as perfect for each other as they all thought. Or maybe she’d let him get to her—with his good looks and his charm.
But it was all an act.
Just like this kiss.
She pulled back, and a sudden chill rushed over her, making her shudder.
“What’s wrong?” Heath asked, as he panted for breath. “Was kissing me that disgusting?”
She shook her head. “No...” In fact it had been exactly the opposite. Something else had inspired that chill—or someone else.
“You must be cold then,” he said. “We did forget our coats.”
She shook her head again. “It’s not that.” She still didn’t feel physically cold. It was more like her soul had been chilled.
Heath’s brow creased as he stared down at her. “Then what it is?”
“I’ve just been getting this odd sensation the past couple days,” she admitted, “like someone’s watching me.”
“I know,” he said. “That’s why you kissed me—because the detective’s probably watching us and you wanted to sell our fake alibi and relationship.”
The alibi was fake. She was beginning to wonder about the relationship. Was it really just work and friendship? Or had she always had other feelings for him, feelings she hadn’t wanted to acknowledge? Maybe that was why she had impulsively provided that alibi—for the same reason her mother hadn’t turned in the man who’d stolen her prescription pad and forged her signature on it.
Kylie didn’t even glance at the house where she was sure there were people watching them. She didn’t believe any of them had inspired that sudden chill. “It’s not the detective...”
At least she didn’t think it was him, unless he’d been following her or maybe he had assigned someone to follow her. “Or your family. It feels like someone else has been watching me.”
Someone who wanted to hurt her...or worse.
Chapter 13
Already shaken from her kiss, Heath reeled from Kylie’s other admission—that she’d been having that same sensation he’d been having, of being watched. He glanced back at his aunt and uncle’s house, where shadows darkened the glass of some of the windows.
“Who else would be watching you?” he asked.
“I don’t know...” she murmured.
Who watched them from inside? One of his family? All of his family? Or Parker who had yet to leave? How the hell could the detective think that any of them were capable of murdering the men they’d loved so much? There wasn’t enough money in the world worth their lives. His eyes suddenly stinging, he blinked hard.
“But it’s like I get this sudden chill,” she said. “And it just feels like someone’s staring at me so coldly.”
“Maybe it’s just the cold,” he murmured. But he didn’t want to go back inside for their jackets. He didn’t want to see the detective again or even any of his family.
Not now...
Heath knew that he was the reason the detective kept coming around, kept questioning them all. Because he’d been in business with his dad and uncle, the detective had fixated on him as the prime suspect. Like he’d staged some kind of extremely hostile takeover.
Would Parker convince Heath’s family that his suspicion was true? That Heath had the capacity, the greed, to kill? Could his family have those kinds of doubts about him?
He’d already wondered if they had. Kylie had no such doubts, though, or she wouldn’t have provided him that alibi. She’d respected his dad and uncle too much to help out someone she suspected of killing them. No. She’d offered him the alibi to save him and to save the detective from following a false lead.
Heath...
Her effort had backfired though, making Parker more determined to hound Heath. He uttered a weary sigh.
“Let’s go,” he said, as he opened the passenger door of his silver SUV for Kylie.
She stepped closer to him, but before getting into the vehicle, she peered up at his face. “Are you okay?” she asked, her dark eyes full of concern.
He shook his head. He didn’t know if he would ever be okay again—not with such a massive hole in his life and in his heart. The only time he didn’t hurt was when he was kissing Kylie.
Was his family right? Was she perfect for him? Had he always had feelings for her beyond friendship? Maybe she really was the reason—as Gina had accused—that he hadn’t been able to commit to her.
He’d assured his ex that he wasn’t attracted to his colleague, though. And at the time he’d believed what he’d told her. Sure, he’d always been aware that Kylie was beautiful, but as a woman with whom he’d worked, she’d been off-limits to him. He’d respected her too much to hit on her and risk her suing the company or, worse yet, leaving it.
“Are you really okay with all of this?” he asked. “With my kissing you.”
Her lips curved into a slight smile. “I kissed you.”
“This time,” he acknowledged. “But I was the one who insisted we play the part of lovers—”
“Because I told the detective that we are,” she finished for him. “I’m fine. Worried that I’m going to sue you or Colton Connections?”
If she did, she’d be suing herself—eventually. He fully intended to make her a partner, but now he needed to wait until the wills were read, until he knew if he still had the power in the company to make her a partner.
A business partner.
That was all she could ever be to him, though. Because he couldn’t risk losing her for Colton Connections. The company needed her, especially after losing the creative genius that had made it the multimillion-dollar business that it was.
>
While he needed her now, he still wasn’t convinced that he was even capable of the kind of love and commitment his parents had had for each other or that his aunt and uncle had shared, as well.
After the upbringing Kylie had survived, she deserved more security than he could offer her. Hell, he couldn’t even offer himself any security now especially if she was right and someone else was watching them. Was it his father and uncle’s killer?
* * *
“See?” Fallon said to Detective Parker. After taking several long moments to pull herself together, she’d rejoined him and Sean in the foyer. She’d intended to invite him to join them for dinner—even as her children were disappearing. Heath and Kylie had slipped out through the library while Jones had stormed off through the kitchen.
As she’d approached the two detectives, she’d overheard Parker questioning her niece’s boyfriend about Heath’s alibi—Kylie. And she’d bristled with protectiveness of her firstborn child. Not that Heath had ever needed her protection; he’d always been strong, as a kid and even more so as a man.
“See how they look at each other?” she told the detective, as she peered through the sidelights of the front door to where the couple stood close together next to Heath’s SUV. “They can’t take their eyes off each other. They are more than friends and coworkers.” She was so grateful that Heath had someone special. Someone who so obviously cared about him and could help him through this terrible time.
“I’m not doubting that they’re involved,” the detective conceded.
“You’re doubting his alibi,” Fallon said. That was what she’d overheard him asking Sean about, if he really believed that Heath and Kylie had been together that night—that horrible, devastating night. “He doesn’t need one. Heath is a good man.”
“What about Jones?” Detective Parker asked. “What about your other son?”
She gasped with shock that another of her sons was considered a suspect. But then she and Farrah had probably been considered the prime suspects because they were the spouses. If they hadn’t been out of town at that home show...