Spring Tides

by Jill Allyson Keene

  She poked his arm. “What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

  “You are the strangest woman I have ever met.”

  “Now it’s my turn to be insulted.”

  He laughed. “No, it’s just from the beginning of our…” He almost said “relationship” but stopped himself. “Association let’s call it. You don’t seem to care about the ramifications this money has on your life. I hear concerns about your mother and now about your employees. You haven’t once talked about you.”

  “I’m not that kinda girl either. Why complain when you can’t change it?” She shrugged. “And it’s weird to hear I’m responsible for employees.” She moved up to her porch and sat on one of her chairs. She gestured for him to sit. “Do you want a coffee? It’s cold out.”

  He moved to the chair opposite her and shook his head. “No, thanks. I’ll get going in a minute. We need to make some plans. Weird or not, you have employees. A lot of them.” A thought struck him. “But don’t people work for you in your business now?”

  “That’s family. Ma does the majority of the paperwork and Joe handles the major mechanical issues. He’s a first-rate captain. It’s different in a family business.”

  “What about you?” he asked. “What do you do?”

  “I boss them around.”

  “Okay, I get it. You don’t want to talk about yourself, so you make jokes instead. In my experience, that usually means someone has a pretty interesting life story. I can’t wait to hear it.”

  “Sorry. What you see is what you get.”

  “I haven’t once been disappointed since I met you.” His voice sounded rough to his own ears, and all he wanted to do was taste her lips. Definitely not appropriate. He needed to do his job. That’s what she needed from him right now. He cleared his throat and stood. “I’ll speak to you tomorrow, and we can finalize details then. I promise to make this go as smoothly as possible. Once you move to Boston permanently, it will be easier to go over things.”

  She jumped out of her chair. “What do you mean, ‘move to Boston’?”

  He sat back down. “I’m sorry to spring this on you, but that’s one of those pesky details you didn’t want to hear about.”

  “But why can’t I just commute? Why is Reginald dictating my living arrangements?”

  He responded gently to the panic he heard in her voice. This wasn’t fair to her, but he had no choice. “Winslow Holdings owns several buildings and businesses in downtown Boston. Boston is woven into the fabric of the corporate culture. You offer tickets every summer for Red Sox games to all employees. You attend the Head of the Charles Regatta every October. You’re now on the board of several Boston cultural institutions. Reginald grew up in South Boston. This was his neighborhood, and he believed in supporting it. If his name had anything to do with it, he did the best he could to be visible. That meant attending many Boston society functions. Reginald considered it impractical to live anywhere else during the week.”

  “But he owned a fortress in Maine.”

  “You own a fortress in Maine. A fortress you are also required to visit and manage.”

  She gripped the arms of the chair. “Any other surprises?”

  “Not anything on that scale. Not anything you haven’t been made aware of already. The final condition of the inheritance is you abide by the dictates of this will for one calendar year from execution, but you know that.” He pushed the hair away from his forehead. “I really will try to help make this as painless as possible. It’s been rough on you. We can finalize everything tomorrow.”

  She surprised him with a smile. “Thanks, Counselor. I’d say I look forward to it, but I hate to lie.”

  He rolled his eyes. “Thank goodness for my thick skin, otherwise I might take that personally.”

  Her laughter charmed him, and he needed to walk away before he did something stupid. He stepped onto the path in front of her house and refused to look back. If he did, he wouldn’t be able to resist her.

  ****

  The following morning, she awoke after a delicious dream that prominently featured Finn Callahan. She shook her head and told herself to get a grip. Unplugging her phone from the charger, she saw she had four texts: one from her mother checking in, another from Megan asking how it went with the hot lawyer, one from the hot lawyer asking to meet her at two that afternoon, and one from an unknown number that said I want what’s mine.

  She responded to all except the last. It was her father looking for more cash. She didn’t know what to do about it. Logically if she kept paying him, he’d keep harassing her. But paying him meant he left her mother alone. Except now that the well was three hundred million dollars deeper, it didn’t seem likely Chuck would go quietly.

  After she dressed, she grabbed one of the breakfast egg sandwiches her mother had made and frozen for her. She microwaved it as she made coffee. She could report to her mother she had eaten, and it wouldn’t be a lie. She ate and let her mind wander. Her life was never going to be the same, but she had no idea what her new life would look like. She had to move, but she didn’t even know what the place in Boston or house in Maine looked like. She hated the unknown; she needed control.

  The first thing she would do after her meeting with the lawyer today was tell her mother the truth. She didn’t want her hearing it from anyone else. She needed to move things along to protect her mother as much as possible. Once she took control of the company and inheritance, her mother wouldn’t be in danger from Serena. Bev’s meeting with Finn that afternoon should accomplish that goal. Then she’d deal with Chuck. With everything organized in her mind, she left her little cottage and began the short walk to her office.

  There were buds on the maples lining her cobblestone street. Little sparrows were out hunting for food, and the gulls screamed in the distance. Walking along the waterfront, she noted most of the fishing boats were coming back in. Eight in the morning was the time for selling the daily catch to market and for the workers to get some sleep. It wasn’t an easy life, but if the fish were biting, the money was good. She hoped the fish were biting. It would mean a better spring and summer for everyone in the community.

  She was only a hundred yards from her office-shack when the hairs on the back of her neck tingled.

  “Hello, baby,” a disgustingly familiar voice said from behind her. She bit her tongue, turned and faced the jackass.

  “Hello, Cary. What can I do for you today?” She really hated she had to be nice to this guy, but Cary Billings’ family owned the marina, and the spoiled little punk thought he owned her, too. Unfortunately, as he so often reminded her, the Billings family could evict her.

  “Go to dinner with me, beautiful. I promise you won’t be disappointed.”

  “But I’m already disappointed.” She spoke as if instructing a small child. “We’ve been over this before. I can’t go out with you.”

  More like she’d never go out with him. Ever. However, this was where diplomacy was necessary and male egos needed to be considered. Yuck.

  “It’s a silly rule, baby. No one will care if you go out with me.” He smiled, and not for the first time since she met Cary Billings did she want to punch his teeth in. He really was gross. The fact he was five foot six and at least fifty pounds overweight had nothing to do with it. She wasn’t shallow. But he was dirty in mind and body. He didn’t bother to use a napkin, as evidenced by the stains on his shirt. And he often commented on the fact that she towered over him, therefore was perfect for a guy like him because he was a “breast man.”

  She almost shivered with disgust. Instead, she said, “Cary, I will care if a rule gets broken. Also, since she made the rule, your mother will care.” She knew at the mention of his mother, he would leave her alone…for a while anyway. Thank God for Susan Billings. She had the good sense to know her son needed a leash. Usually she kept a tighter rein on him.

  “Okay, baby. But if you change your mind, I’ll be waiting. I’m working on my ma to change her rules.”
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  Weird as it was to hear an almost-fifty-year-old man afraid of his mother, she was still thankful for it. As she waved good-bye and faked a smile, she thought the chance of her going out with Cary was about as likely as a bomb going off at the marina.

  Then one did.

  ****

  When she came to, she was lying on a stretcher with the sun in her eyes and Finn Callahan glaring down at her. She said the first thing that came to mind. “Don’t call my mother.” She tried to get up to a sitting position but thought better of it when the pain in her head registered over the panic of her mother finding out she was hurt.

  “We’ll talk about the insanity of that request when you’re up for it. I didn’t call anyone,” he said. “Yet.”

  Relief flooded through her, shortly followed by aches and pains. “What happened?” Before he could answer, he had to step back as an EMT came over to speak to her.

  “Ma’am, you have some abrasions and, I imagine, one hell of a headache. We need to get you to the hospital for a scan to make sure you aren’t concussed.”

  She closed her eyes against this information. The helpful EMT continued. “I’ll need to notify someone to come and pick you up at the hospital if you get the all clear. Who should I call?”

  She was about to suggest Megan when he stepped back into the conversation. “I’ll meet you there and bring you home.”

  “Megan can do that.”

  “But I’d feel so much better doing it myself.” He smiled down at her as another EMT helped wheel her stretcher to the ambulance.

  “This is crazy. I’m fine.”

  “Won’t it be nice when a doctor agrees with you?” He looked at the EMTs. “Where are you taking her?”

  “St. Joe’s,” they both answered as they loaded her into the rig.

  She felt strangely detached from the entire process. It occurred to her she might be losing her mind. She felt fuzzy and wanted to close her eyes—until a thought popped into her aching head. She lifted it off the stretcher, yelling out at him.

  “Hey, what happened? What blew up?”

  His face tightened. “Your office.”

  ****

  “I don’t like this. You didn’t say anyone was going to get hurt.” The little ant was wringing his hands. Idiot.

  “She wasn’t supposed to be there. Relax. She’s fine. It was bad timing.”

  “Bad timing? She was three seconds away from becoming ash.”

  “Accidents happen. This was supposed to scare her, and it will. Besides, we don’t get anything if she dies. We need her distracted while we work out the plan. She’ll be too busy putting back the pieces of her business to take control of the Winslow money.”

  “I’m still not sure about this…”

  “You were the one who assured me her business means everything to her. Surely you didn’t make a mistake?”

  “I did my research. The only other weakness Beverly Winslow has is her mother.”

  “Now that is interesting information.”

  “This was supposed to be neat. Murder isn’t tidy.”

  “I’m not suggesting we go in that direction. Yet. It’s just a contingency.”

  “I don’t like it,” he said, still pacing.

  “Just continue with your part of the plan. Leave the rest to me.”

  Chapter Ten

  “Mild concussion and a gorgeous bruise on my ass.” Bev shifted positions on her couch—to ease the ache—as she spoke to Megan.

  Her friend hovered over her, checking her pupils.

  “Meg, seriously, I’m fine.”

  Megan backed away and put a hand on her hip. “You look like hell. What’s the lawyer think?”

  “The lawyer thinks you should start calling him Finn. And I agree she looks like hell.”

  He walked in from the kitchen with this announcement. He placed a pill and a bottle of water on the coffee table in front of her. “The lawyer also thinks the patient needs to take her pill. I only agreed to bring you here instead of letting them admit you to the hospital because you promised to be a good patient.”

  Megan raised an eyebrow and stared Bev down.

  “Stop staring at us, Meg, and Finn, stop being so bossy. I’m taking the damn pill.” She sounded whiny to her own ears, but her head still hurt like hell. She was saved from any further discussion about her sorry state when Meg spoke.

  “Okay, Finn. What do you think of all this?”

  “I’m waiting for the report from the arson investigator before I let myself think anything. I don’t want to speculate, but the timing is suspect. Obviously. You just inherited a fortune, and then someone blows up your office.” He rubbed his forehead. “Christ, you could have been killed.”

  Tears formed in Meg’s eyes.

  Bev reached for her friend’s hand. “I’m fine. I didn’t blow up. It was just my office. I’m sure it was an accident.” She directed a frosty look in his direction. “Not helping, Counselor.”

  He took the hint. “Actually, there isn’t any way to tell yet. The fire chief couldn’t see anything amiss in what was left of your office. He said you had a kerosene lantern in there and it could be as simple as bad wiring in the wall. Small fires get out of control when you add kerosene.”

  “Every office at the marina has a kerosene lantern in case of power outages. It would be stupid not to.”

  “Don’t get defensive. No one is saying this is your fault. Accidents happen,” Meg said as she moved next to her on the couch and put a hand on Bev’s arm. “Seriously, how do you feel?”

  She was losing what little control she had. Tears sprang to her eyes. “I feel horrible. My beautiful little office is gone. I’d just paid another year on the lease. Everything important was in that office.”

  Meg dropped her hand. “Everything important? You could have been in there.”

  “I know, I know. I just can’t break down right now, and if I think too long about it, I will. Ma and Joe would have been there if I hadn’t sent them on vacation. They always have their coffee together in the office in the morning before I get there. Thank God they aren’t here.” She hated she could hear the tears in her voice. Pushing them away, she said, “I’m focusing on what I can control.”

  She turned to him, who was looking at her with an odd expression. She couldn’t worry if he thought she was crazy. She needed to act. “Okay, Counselor. Let’s get this done.”

  “I’m not exactly sure what you want to get done. The actual signing and you taking over has to happen in my office with my assistant as a witness.” His phone rang. He answered quickly. “Hi, Jules. Yes. Will you courier over what I need please and also call Mr. Bastien? I need to reschedule his deposition for next week.”

  As he hung up, she observed he wasted little time in handling things. She thought of the signing of the will. “Great. I finally make the decision and now I have to wait.” She sighed. “I need a drink.”

  Megan popped off the couch. “I’ll get it.”

  “I’m not sure that’s a good idea with the medication…”

  Megan walked back in with a glass of milk. “Relax, Finn. When she says she needs a drink, it always means milk. She’s weird. You get used to it.” Megan shrugged and sat back down. “Do you feel like anything special? Do you want me to bring you some food? I work the dinner-to-close shift tonight, but I can bring you anything you need before work.”

  She closed her eyes. “Thanks, but no.” She took a sip. “What happened to Cary? He and I were talking before the blast. Is he okay?”

  “A couple of scrapes, but he’s fine,” she said. “Are you sure you don’t want anything?”

  “No, thanks. You get ready for work. I’ll be fine.”

  Meg gnawed at her lip. “I don’t want to leave you alone.”

  He nudged Megan. “The lawyer is here, remember?”

  She let out a little laugh. “Right, you’re here. Sorry. I’m a worrier. I’ll feel better she’s not alone tonight.”

  With his sexy b
rown eyes, he looked down at her. “Don’t worry; she won’t be alone.”

  Meg giggled as she walked to the door. Bev couldn’t seem to look away from his gaze.

  “All right. I’m outta here. See you tomorrow.”

  She couldn’t come up with anything more than a mumbled good-bye for her friend. She remained transfixed by the smoldering look he was giving her. He lowered himself to the coffee table directly in front of her and continued to stare. She grew uncomfortable under his scrutiny. She decided to put him on the spot.

  “Why are you staring at me?”

  “I’m worried about you, Beverly Winslow.”

  So completely unexpected was his response she had no reply. Her mouth dropped open a bit as he brushed the hair off her forehead. She stared into his eyes as he made the tender gesture. He spoke to her in a gravelly voice that caused warmth to spread throughout her body.

  “I’m really glad you’re okay,” he whispered.

  “Me ,too. I think blowing up would have sucked.”

  He laughed. “That’s an interesting way of putting things. Even before we met, I knew you’d be fascinating.”

  “Why did you think that?”

  “From the moment Reginald mentioned your name, it was my job to research you. I got the facts. No traffic tickets, all A’s in college and grad school, volunteer at a local school giving lectures about wildlife. I could go on listing, but that wasn’t who you are. You’re loyal. You put family and friends before yourself. You’re funny and smart and a little weird. There is more to you than that, but I’ve spent enough time with you. You’re somebody worth getting to know.”

  “You investigated me?”

  “Yes.” He shrugged. “I apologize, but it was part of my job.”

  “And probably completely legal.”

  “I don’t do anything illegal. Ever.”

  “So what else can you tell me? My checking account balance?”

  “Your balance just got three hundred million dollars fatter, and it doesn’t matter to me at all. The only thing that matters is we figure out what to do now. We should schedule the signing of the papers, but more importantly, we need to keep you safe. Blowing up your office is the work of an insane bastard. If it wasn’t an accident, we have to assume this has to do with the money.”