Stolen [4] Stolen Chances

by Elisabeth Naughton

  Lisa didn’t say anything, not that Maren expected her to. While Lisa had supported Maren’s decision not to hunt Thad down after he started popping on the radar again, Maren knew Lisa was hoping she’d finally come clean.

  And Maren would. At some point. Just not today.

  After a long silence, Lisa sank onto the couch next to Maren and sighed. “Well, look on the bright side. It could be worse. Thad could have a wife and four kids in tow.”

  Maren lifted her fingers from her eyes and shot her friend a wide-eyed stare. “Does he?”

  “I don't think so, but…who knows? You’re stuck here for the night. Why don't you find out for yourself?”

  Maren harrumphed, dropped her hands against her thighs, and stared back up at the ceiling. “When hell freezes over.”

  Lisa smiled and pushed to her feet. “Careful now. You said that about your parents working together, and look what happened there.”

  Maren frowned as her friend grabbed Maren’s bags and headed for the bedroom. Yeah, look what had happened there. All their conspiring had fucked up her life, once again.

  As if she wasn’t doing a bang-up job of that all on her own.

  CHAPTER THREE

  The buzzing intercom cut through Evan Declan’s thoughts with a sharp shrill. Not bothering to hide his disgust at the interruption, he glanced at the phone on the edge of his mahogany desk and reached across its slick surface to push the button. “I’m not to be disturbed.”

  “I’m sorry, Mr. Declan.” His secretary’s prim voice carried the slightest hint of fear. “Randy Peterson is on line one. He said you were expecting his call. I asked him to wait, but he insists it’s urgent.”

  Evan’s eyes lifted to the beautiful brunette historian seated across from him, papers in her lap, her carefully manicured brows raised in question. “I’m sorry for the interruption. I need to take this.”

  “Of course.” Her lips curled into an understanding smile. She folded her hands over the research they’d just been discussing and crossed her slim legs at the ankles. Silence fell over the room as Evan regarded her with incredulity.

  Realization finally dawned, and her eyes widened. She scrambled out of her seat, her face closing in embarrassment. “I’m sorry.” She grabbed the bag at her feet. “I’ll just wait outside.”

  What the woman lacked in common sense, she made up for in loyalty. He flashed his most alluring smile. “Thank you. Marie will get you coffee or anything else you’d like. This should only take a few minutes.”

  She nodded and stepped out of the room.

  When the door closed behind her, Evan’s smile faded. He turned on the speaker and leaned back in his chair. With his elbows propped on the leather armrests, he steepled his fingers in front of him and worked to keep the anticipation from his voice. “Mr. Peterson, I hope you have good news for me.”

  “Ah.” The groundskeeper’s voice wavered. “Yes, sir, Mr. Declan. You said to call if there was any change at the hotel, and well, I’m calling.”

  That was obvious. Evan’s lips pursed at the delay. “I’m waiting, Mr. Peterson.”

  “Oh, yeah. Sorry. Mrs. Hudson came back from Europe. Called the staff together this morning and said she was taking over the hotel again. Whole staff’s been in an uproar about it. Not that we don’t like the old lady, but she’s a barracuda, you know? Things just ran smoother when Dr. Hudson was in charge. Gotta say, I’m sorry to see her go.”

  The man was easily sidetracked. Evan’s jaw tightened as he tried to steer Peterson back to the purpose of the call. “And where is Dr. Hudson, Peterson?”

  “Um, Mrs. Hudson didn’t elaborate. Just said her daughter was leaving on business.”

  Business. Evan’s blood pulsed. “When?”

  “I don’t know for sure. But that redhead? The one you said to watch for? I overheard Dr. Hudson’s secretary saying she was meeting Dr. Hudson somewhere in Cancun. That the two were taking a vacation together.”

  Evan’s blood pulsed. The fact this was the first he was hearing of this meant his other contacts would need to be dealt with. Swiftly.

  He took a calming breath and focused on the info at hand. Maren would never vacation in Cancun. And the redhead had to be Lisa Maxwell. “What of the child?”

  “She’s still here. Been hangin’ around the hotel all afternoon with her grandmother.”

  Evan was silent as he processed the information. If Lisa Maxwell was with Maren somewhere on “business,” something was afoot.

  Peterson swallowed on the other end of the line. “Um, Mr. Declan, sir? Are you still there?”

  “I’m here.” He steadied his voice. “I’m very disappointed this information is just now reaching me. It’s nearly six o’clock.”

  “Ah, I’m sorry, sir. Mrs. Hudson…she’s had us working like ants all day. This was the first chance I had to call.” Panic laced the man’s words. “Um, I’m still gonna get paid, right?”

  Declan fought back the disgust at the pleading in the man’s tone. He made a point to surround himself with competent employees, but in this case, he’d needed someone on the inside. Someone who could feed him information and wouldn’t garner more than a sideways look from Maren.

  “Because of the late notification, Peterson, you’ll receive partial payment. If I find the information useful, perhaps a bonus.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “In the future, I will be informed immediately of changes. Is that understood?”

  “Yes, sir,” he repeated with all the confidence of a maggot writhing in rotten flesh.

  “Very well. Keep your ear to the ground, and your eyes focused on the child.”

  Evan clicked off the line and rose from his seat. He crossed to the floor-to-ceiling window overlooking the rugged California coastline below. Working the tension from his muscles, he rolled his shoulders and conjured Maren’s face in his mind.

  Did she think she could run from him? Did she think she could keep her whereabouts secret? She couldn’t. They were linked, her to him and him to her. Forever. He’d known that the moment he’d seen her all those years ago. Nothing she could say or do would ever change that simple fact.

  She knew the consequences for trying to break that bond. She’d been warned before. Their connection was rooted in history, the only thing in the world that remained constant over time.

  He slipped his hands behind his back and eyed the crashing waves below, the power and might of the Pacific Ocean. His muscles relaxed, calming him all the way to his core. She’d had days to contact him and hadn’t. Days to prove her loyalty, and failed.

  He’d have to take swift action to bring her back around.

  Thad glanced toward the screen door for the tenth time.

  There’d been no sign of Maren since she’d disappeared into her father’s hut hours ago. Since Patrick was currently in the middle of one of his stories, entertaining Drummer and Lisa and the grad students he’d hired as grunts for this project, Thad knew she wasn’t still arguing with the old man, and he couldn’t help but wonder where she was or what she was doing.

  The team had gathered in the small casita they were using as a mess hall, and Patrick had made a round of introductions. Dinner had consisted of rice, beans, and soft-shell tacos cooked by a local woman Patrick had also hired. The food had been good, but Thad had barely tasted it. He kept expecting Maren to walk through the door, and every minute that went by without sign of her inched his nerves up a little more.

  Dammit. She was staying away because of him. He’d been afraid of this. He’d even told Patrick his being here might piss her off. Obviously, he’d been right.

  “You know, she’s still as stubborn as she used to be.”

  Realizing Lisa was talking to him, Thad glanced to his right. “What?”

  The edge of Lisa’s lips curled where she sat next to him, her forearms folded against the scarred wood table. “Maren. That is who you keep looking for, isn’t it?”

  Thad frowned and lifted the Corona to
his lips. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m not looking for anyone.”

  The team laughed at something Patrick said down the table, and Lisa’s smile widened. “She seemed a little rattled after her chat with Patrick. Might help her decision if you just went and talked to her.”

  Thad’s stomach knotted. Talk to her. Yeah, like he should have done nine years ago instead of running. That knot twisted tighter. What the hell good would that do?

  “She won’t bite, you know,” Lisa said. “I mean…I wouldn’t stage your first talk near any sharp objects, just in case, but I think on neutral ground, you’re relatively safe.”

  “Relatively safe.” Thad repeated, frowning her way. “That sounds oddly like sending a lamb into the lion’s den.”

  Lisa laughed and reached for her own beer. “You’ve never been a lamb, Leighton. An eagle who swoops in and takes what he wants, yeah, but never a lamb. Trust me, it’ll do you and Maren some good to clear the air.”

  Thad’s nerves sang. He glanced toward the screen door again. She’d tolerated him in public. In private, he didn’t know what the hell she’d do.

  He gripped the beer in his hand. His palm grew damp, but he couldn’t tell if it was from the condensation on the bottle or sweat building thanks to his nerves.

  If she leaves and you never get a chance to talk to her, you’ll be more pissed than you’ve been at yourself all these years.

  “Go,” Lisa said. “You’re stressing me out already.”

  Thad pushed to his feet before he could change his mind. “If I’m not back in an hour, send in a search party.”

  Lisa laughed again. “If you’re not back in thirty minutes, I’ll send in paramedics.”

  Maren sat on the porch of her casita in the early evening light, nursing a beer while trying to focus on the pages in front of her. She’d won the Darcy Burke novel in an online contest. If she couldn’t have a happily ever after of her own, at least she could read about one. The sweet romance set in the rolling wine country of Oregon had lifted her mood for all of two seconds; then she’d heard laughter and cheerful voices echoing from the dining hall and her mood had gone straight to the shitter.

  She gave herself a mental slap, reread the page—for the fourth time—and couldn’t, for the life of her, remember what was happening in the book.

  Just a few more hours, then you’ll be out of here and you can go back to the way things were.

  The way things were… That didn’t exactly bolster her mood. The way things were was her miserable at the hotel and Isabel longing for a life Maren could no longer give her. Dammit, she needed to tell Thad the truth, but she was afraid. Afraid of what he’d say. What he’d do. Afraid that he’d step in and try to take away the only thing that mattered to her anymore. And if he found out about Evan…

  “Nice night.”

  Maren’s stomach twisted, and the air caught in her lungs. Slowly, she lifted her head and looked toward the steps of the porch where a shadowy figure stood.

  His voice was still as deep and gravelly as she remembered. And way too damn arousing. Maren swallowed hard and closed the book. “I suppose.”

  “You missed dinner.”

  Another round of laughter echoed across the camp, and Maren pictured her father in the thick of things, telling one of his numerous stories to the grunts he’d hired. “I’ve heard all of Patrick’s tales. I wasn’t in the mood to hear them again.”

  Thad nodded, tucked his hands in the front pockets of his jeans, and looked out over the camp. Palms swayed in the evening breeze, and the first sparkle of stars above could just be seen, but he was all Maren could seem to look at. Older, more muscular beneath that white T-shirt than he’d been in his twenties, rough around the edges in a way that shouldn’t be legal, and so much sexier than he had any right to be. “I heard you’re leaving.”

  Why that hit her hard in the chest, Maren didn’t know. “I have to get back. Unlike the rest of you, Patrick didn’t tell me what this dig was all about. If he had, I wouldn’t have come.”

  Thad nodded again and kicked a rock near the toe of his boot. “I can understand that. I wasn’t sure I was going to come at first either. Then I decided it was too important an opportunity to pass up.”

  Of course it would be important to him. He’d lost his brother during their last attempt to find La Malinche. Colin’s baby face flashed in Maren’s mind, and she remembered his easy smile, his infectious laugh, and the numerous practical jokes he’d liked to play.

  She also remembered the day he’d died, when they’d been diving in that cenote her father had told her was the place, and those treasure hunters had come in through another tunnel, unexpectedly. A familiar ache settled deep in her chest.

  Everyone had a reason to be here, even Lisa. She’d been in love with Colin nine years before. And though Lisa was happily married to Rafe now, Maren knew Lisa always kept her ear to the ground, listening for any buzz about that cursed artifact. Because finding it would be one final way for her to honor Colin’s memory.

  If only it were that easy for Maren. She missed Colin as much as the rest of them, but unearthing a worthless statue wouldn’t protect her daughter. And that was all that mattered.

  “What do you think he would say if he were here?” Thad asked quietly, his rough voice cutting through her thoughts and memories. “Would he want us to do this? Do you think it matters in the long run?”

  He was talking about Colin. She looked his way and felt her chest constrict. This was hard for him. Harder than for anyone else. He’d dragged Colin with him on that dig nine years ago. Colin hadn’t wanted to go. He’d been a term away from finishing his Master’s degree in anthropology, but he’d put it all on hold for Thad because his brother had asked. And in the end, he’d lost his life for something he’d never really believed in.

  “What do you think?” she asked just as softly.

  He was silent for a minute, then turned those dark eyes her way. And when she looked at him in the dim light, the sorrow she saw lurking there just about broke her. “Yeah,” he whispered. “I think he’d want us to finish this, to make his death matter. It’s not about the artifact. It’s about restitution, about payback. About finding closure and ending it all, right now.”

  A lump formed in Maren’s throat, one she couldn’t seem to get rid of no matter what she tried. “I think you’re right.”

  Silence settled over them. Neither seemed to know what to say. And every second that passed inched Maren’s nerves higher. Because talking to him only reinforced one thing: he was still the man she’d fallen in love with so long ago. It didn’t matter what had happened between them after Colin’s death or that he’d never returned her calls. The loyal, protective, sexy man she’d fallen for was standing in front of her, waiting for her to make the first move.

  On shaky legs, she pushed to her feet and turned for the door before her body could betray her. “I need to turn in.”

  “Maren—”

  The emotion she heard in that one word—her name—brought everything right back to the surface. Tell him… Don’t tell him… She couldn’t think right now; didn’t know what to do. All she knew was that she needed space so she could breathe. “Don’t, Thad.”

  “We should talk, Blondie.”

  Blondie… His favorite nickname for her. Her chest squeezed tighter. She closed her hand around the screen handle and squeezed her eyes tightly before opening them again. “There’s nothing to talk about.”

  “Yes, there—”

  She turned to face him. “Look, the past is…in the past.” The slight breeze ruffled his hair, and she had an uncontrollable urge to run her fingers through the thick locks like she used to, but she fought it and stood her ground. “There’s nothing to talk about. You’ll do just fine without me. Patrick and I aren’t really on the best of terms anyway, so it’s better if I just go. The team doesn’t need the extra tension. Really, it’s…no big deal.” She stared at him a second, and when he didn’t say
anything, she added quickly, “Good night, Thad.”

  She pulled the screen door open and had one foot in the room before she heard his voice.

  “What if I want you to stay?”

  She froze, and inside her chest, the cold embers of her heart burst to life. But they cracked all over again under the weight of everything left unsaid between them. “Nine years ago, I wanted you to stay. We just don’t always get what we want.”

  She let the screen slap behind her and drew unsteady breaths as she crossed the small living area. She had to get out of this place. She couldn’t do this again. Just seeing Thad was rocking her world right out from under her feet and messing with her resolve.

  Halfway to her room, the phone in her pocket buzzed, and she pulled it out. One look at the screen and everything else faded away. A cold chill raced down her spine and turned to ice in the pit of her stomach.

  Hands shaking, she moved into her bedroom, closed the door, and lifted the phone to her ear. “Hello, Evan.”

  “That doesn’t sound like happiness to me.”

  Maren’s eyes slid closed on a wave of dread. “You caught me off guard.”

  “I bet. I’ve missed you, darling. It’s been way too long.”

  Sickness rolled through Maren’s stomach, but she fought the rising bile and forced the words he wanted to hear. “I know. I’ve been…busy.”

  “Too busy to call?”

  She pictured him sitting behind that monstrous desk of his, in that palatial mansion overlooking the Pacific. “Evan—”

  “Too busy to tell me you were planning a trip to Mexico?”

  Maren’s eyes popped open, and dread turned to bone-chilling fear. “H-how did you know I was in Mexico?”

  “Maren, darling. I know everything.”

  The way he drew out the last word made her stomach roll. She leaned against the back of the door. “What do you want?”

  “I want what everyone wants—your father, Lisa Maxwell, Thad Leighton, even that hustler Drummer. I want La Malinche.”