B. G. McCarthy - A Thief At Heart

by A Thief At Heart (lit)

  He was covered with mud and pine needles anyway, so he decided to chop some wood for the fire, then grab another hot shower and maybe search out some clothes. He’d noticed a few shirts in the cabin that may have been Todd’s. By his calculations Riley ought to be back soon. His heart beat a little faster at the thought.

  The wood chopping went quickly. He soon had enough to last the night. He felt as if he had dirt behind his coal-black extended-wear contacts so he popped them out in the bathroom and laid them on the counter, frowning at the way he looked in the mirror. The bright blue eyes in his tanned face almost disconcerted him. It was bloody weird how those flat black eyes altered his whole appearance. He took the gun and laid it beside the contacts, tossing a bath towel over it, then climbed into the shower.

  ~ * ~

  Riley bought everything that she thought a healthy specimen like Rob would eat, including the makings of a batch of Aggie’s special cookies. She knew how to make those by heart. She bought enough food for several days but realised they’d probably starve before she could get meals made. The idea made her smile and flush like a teenager.

  She decided to stop at a truck stop that was half way home from the cabin. She and Mary had been there the last time they’d come to town. The food was simple but good. She was pretty sure Robbie would like the fried chicken and coleslaw.

  Smiling to herself, she pulled into the parking lot. There was one big rig from California parked there along with a couple of battered trucks. There was a beautiful black sports car parked there, too.

  Just like Todd’s. Her heart did a little somersault. She got closer to it, her breath catching as she peered out her window.

  It was Todd’s car. It had a British Columbia vanity plate that said: FUN LVR. What was Todd doing here? Had he shown up at the cabin last night?

  Riley sat stunned in her car and considered going somewhere else so she didn’t have to face him. Then she decided she was being silly. She’d confront him. She’d ask him why the hell he hadn’t called poor Mary, why he made her worry like that.

  She’d just shoved open her car door when two biker types came out of the diner. Her heart bumped against her ribs as they walked towards Todd’s car. They were the two men she’d seen that night in the hallway with Todd. Pigtail and his buddy. She was almost certain of it.

  One of them rounded the driver’s side of the Viper. The car’s security lock beeped and he climbed in. The other climbed in, too. It was a two-seater car, so there was no way Todd was hanging somewhere inside the diner and intending to come out soon and join them.

  What in hell were those men doing with Todd’s car? His pride and joy. There was no way Todd would give his car to those men. Had they stolen it? She watched as the car sped up, kicked up the gravel on the shoulder and headed for the highway.

  Riley got out of her car and ran into the diner. There was a tired looking blonde waitress wiping down the red Formica counter. She looked up and grinned. “What can I do for you, honey?”

  “I’m... I was wondering... about the two men who just left. Was there another man with them? Tall, pudgy, but good-looking. Blonde.”

  “I think I’d a known about him, honey. No good-looking men came in here today. There was a guy I haven’t seen before who came in for coffee yesterday morning. He was yummy, let me tell you. Dark hair--”

  “How did they pay for their meal? I need a name.”

  “They used a credit card. But I--”

  “I’m not a cop or anything. One of them owes my boyfriend a bundle. I just need his name.”

  “I’ll just have a look. I had a boyfriend who was always loaning cash to friends. What is it with men?” She rifled through the receipts. She picked one out of the bunch and squinted at it. “Here it is. His name is Todd Connors.”

  Riley’s heart fell into her shoes. “Thank you. I appreciate this,” she managed.

  ~ * ~

  Robert had chopped a lot of wood, Riley noted, almost tripping over some of it as she stumbled in the back door. In her anxiety to reach him, to tell him what had happened, she left all of the groceries she’d bought in the car. She needed to know what he thought. Should she call Mary first or just call the police?

  Riley’s heart told her that none of this could be good, and even though Todd had never treated her well, she didn’t want him to be hurt or for Mary to suffer should anything have happened to him, her only grandson.

  “Rob,” she called tentatively. “Robbie?”

  She ran up the stairs, relieved to hear the shower. He was singing in an off-key voice. Something by Led Zeppelin.

  Too anxious about Todd to consider Rob’s modesty--not that there could be any physical revelations between them now--Riley opened the door from her side of the room. She took a deep breath, looking at his beautiful male form though the opaque green curtain with the fern leaves printed all over it. He was ducking his head under the spray, gurgling a bit.

  Unable to keep from grinning, despite this worrisome thing with Todd, Riley reached for the towel draped over the counter top so she could hand it to him. Not that he should worry about her seeing him naked. She’d already committed every exquisite inch of him to memory.

  The towel caught on something heavy, made the object beneath the towel scrape on the Formica. What the hell?

  The towel came loose and fluttered to the floor revealing a dark object.

  A gun?

  A gun! And strange, modern looking little black job. From what she knew about spy shows the weapon was likely meant to be concealed, not the kind cops strapped on. Beside it on the white counter were two little black dots. Contact lenses.

  Riley’s lips parted soundlessly as a cold shiver coursed the length of her spine. She couldn’t move for a moment, couldn’t do anything but stare at the gun.

  The shower thunked off and Rob sighed in pleasure. The curtain parted and he stepped out, groping blindly for the towel.

  Riley’s gaze travelled up that long, lean naked body, straight into a pair of surprised eyes. They were blue. The same blue as forget-me-nots, the exact same unsullied blue as a summer sky.

  The exact same pure, unforgettable blue of Robin Butler’s eyes.

  “Think you could hand me that towel?” he asked in a calm voice.

  His reasonable, I-do-this-all-the-time tone made Riley’s temper boil over, heated her blood and sent it rushing dizzily to her head. Delayed reaction made her knees almost collapse under her and she felt like she might pass out on the tile floor in a heap and totally disgrace herself.

  “Riley? Are you okay, honey?”

  ~ * ~

  The mock-concern and the honey thing just added fuel to the already raging fire.

  “Okay?” she grated. “Am I okay? What is this? Guns. Disguises! You’re wearing a disguise?” Her voice was now high, shrill and panicked enough to alert any dogs in the neighbourhood.

  The biggest dog was standing right before her naked as the day he was born and appearing to be quite unashamed of the fact.

  He looked at the counter, then back at her. “Yep, you’re right. That is a gun.”

  Part of her was praying that he’d announce that he was a cop, a secret agent, just about anything to explain this gun without his turning out to be one of the bad guys.

  But her luck had never run to good. With all her luck he was the baddest of the bad.

  “Do you carry that thing all the time?”

  “No, but I do some of the time. Would you hand me that towel so that I can get decent and try to explain some of this to you?”

  “You have a long way to go to be decent,” she snarled.

  That made a black brow rise upward in infuriating amusement.

  She shoved the towel at him, the backs of her fingers scraping across his bare, wet belly. A little thrill went through her and she hated herself for it. “You’d better have a good explanation for lying to me, Robin Butler. For using me this way.”

  If his real name on her lips shocked him , he did
n’t show it. “Using you?” He wrapped the towel around his waist. The rest of him remained wet, sleek, tiny droplets clinging to the hair on his arms and chest.

  “I know damned well that using me is what you’ve been doing. You know, Robin--” she paused to take a much needed breath, “--on second thought, I know all I need to know about who you are, what you are. And I don’t care to even hear your lame--” She began to back away toward the door. “--explanation.”

  His reflexes reminded her of a lizard. He caught her at the doorway with disturbing speed, not even losing the towel. She could feel him warm and wet against her back. If she was not mistaken the act had aroused him a little beneath the towel. She could feel him, hard against her hip. She wanted to be frightened, but what she felt was an excitement that appalled her.

  She slapped at him with her free hand, forcing him to wrap a hard wet arm more tightly around her waist. “Just calm down, Riley. Take a few deep breaths.”

  She twisted her head and glared up at him. “Really? Calm down? Do you plan on keeping me in this bathroom against my will, Robin?”

  “You can stand right there and do whatever you like. Just keep your hands to yourself. I’d like to get my clothes on. I’m not letting you out of my sight until I’m wearing my pants and boots. Then I promise that I will try to explain some of this to you.”

  “Some of this? What do you mean by that? Some of this.”

  He reached for the gun, making her swallow hard on a lump of pure fear. With the gun held up over his head, Rob propelled her out the door, set the gun carefully on the dresser top and reached for his pants which were draped over a chair. All the while he held on to her.

  “Seeing that you’re the one with the gun, I guess I have to do what you say.”

  “The gun stays there. Don’t get any stupid ideas. I don’t want you to hurt yourself. Or me.” The tight lines around his mouth softened slightly. “I’d never hurt you, Riley,” he said in a rough whisper.

  She rolled her eyes. “Tell me another one.”

  Robbie turned her. Their eyes were inches apart. His lashes were clumped into stars, the heavenly blue quite sombre looking in the darker room. Heat emanated from his smooth skin and he smelled delicious, like her soap and his own scent mingled together. She backed up out of pure self-preservation until her knees hit the edge of the bed and she was forced to sit.

  “Thank you.”

  He dropped the towel with little compunction. Riley looked away but she could see his reflection in the door’s mirror. Skipping his underwear, he pulled his black leather pants over his long legs--no mean feat because he was still wet. He slipped on the shirt, leaving it gaping open and yanked the heavy boots over his bare feet.

  It was like a striptease in reverse. She didn’t even want to think about the awful ways her body betrayed her just watching him.

  “Have you had that gun in this cabin the entire time?” she demanded.

  “No. It was hidden in a compartment on my bike. I had to go down in the ravine to get it out. The bike is going to be a problem. I can’t get it out of there without your help. The storm has brought down a lot of branches and stuff.”

  “If it gets you away from me really fast, Robin Butler, count on my help.”

  She heard him give a low, flat chuckle.

  “Why do you carry a weapon?” She shuddered as she asked.

  “Protection,” he replied.

  Riley looked him in the eyes. His blue gaze was as disconcerting as it had always been. That blissful shade of sapphire didn’t belong on a man like him. Maybe an innocent soul or an angel or something, which he definitely wasn’t.

  “Are you going to listen while I try to explain, Riley? Or do you just want to get all the venom out of your system? Ask me inane questions. Accuse me of things? Call me names?”

  “Inane questions? My questions are not inane.”

  “Let me rephrase that. Dumb questions.”

  “Does this scheme of yours have anything to do with me? Did you find out where I work and use me for your own nefarious ends?”

  His laugh made her shiver. “Yeah, Little Nell,” he drawled. “Me and Snidely Whiplash. We’re both heavily into nefarious.”

  “I hate you, Robin Butler,” she muttered.

  “You probably should hate me, Riley. It would be better for you if you did.”

  She glared at him all the harder.

  “I found out you were working for Mary Connors before my plans could be changed. I had to work around you, so to speak.” He pushed his thick dark hair into some semblance of order.

  “Did I screw up your little con? Did I get in the way of whatever you planned for Belinda and Mary? Or any of the other rich women in their social circle?”

  Robin Butler tilted his good-looking head back like he was perusing the heavens for guidance. “You know this actually might be better. You just go on and think that I’m some kind of swindler who preys on rich women.”

  “You’re the one with the gun and the altered identity, Robin. What do you expect me to think?”

  “Listen, Riley, I’ll admit to a few lies--”

  Riley could help but snort. “A few lies? Your good family back in Toronto? The family with the insurance business? You just had to find yourself the perfect bride because you can’t wait to settle down and have babies?” Her voice broke a little at the end of that speech. She despised her own weakness.

  “Some of that’s true, in a way.”

  Riley shook her head in pure amazement. Oh God, this was so bizarre. Frightening. Fascinating... Was he going to keep her here indefinitely? Was that all he wanted from her? God, why had she been such a fool to sleep with him? She could have ten more years of guilt this time round.

  “Riley, stop looking at me like that. I’m not Jack the Ripper. There’s not much I can tell you at the moment without compromising a lot of work--”

  “Work? Just an honest day at the office, Robin?”

  “I promise you that the minute I have gotten what I’m looking for, I’ll clear things up. You’ll be free to go on with your own business.”

  “How generous of you. But there’s no need for you to clear anything up. I’m going downstairs right now to call the sheriff. He can clear this up for us.” She stood up, lifted her chin and threw out her chest in shaky defiance.

  “What would you tell the sheriff?”

  “Plenty. First that you have a gun and that you’ve threatened to keep me here against my will. I think that’s known as abduction.”

  “Yeah, I think it is. Kinky.” He grinned infuriatingly. Then they heard it. The roar of motorcycle engines in the driveway. Riley leapt off the bed. Rob reacted, yanking her against him, covering her mouth with his hand. He dragged her to the window and looked out. “Take a quick look. You know those guys?”

  Riley looked down through the blinds, her heart squeezing in her chest. “Do you know them?” he asked.

  Didn’t he know them? she wondered. Her stomached lurched again. It was them. Pigtail and his ugly friend. He took his hand from her mouth. “I’ve seen them with Todd.” What were they doing here? Had they seen her at the diner? Had they come after her?

  “Are these the men who came to the mansion the night I dropped you off at Craig’s? I saw their car that night, but I couldn’t make them out from your balcony.”

  She stiffened. “You were on my balcony?”

  “All night. Right outside your room. I watched you get ready for bed.”

  “My God.”

  “Did you see Todd in town tonight?” Robin asked. “Is that why you were upset?”

  “No. I saw these two creeps an hour ago at the diner when I went to get some chicken.” She explained quickly about the credit card, the car in the parking lot.

  He pulled her away from the window. “They’re coming up the drive. They might be looking for you. We have to go down the upper deck from the master bedroom. Down the ravine. You think you can make it down there?” He pinned her with that h
eated blue gaze again, grabbing the gun and his cell phone from the dresser top. He stuffed the gun in the front of his leather pants. She almost feared for his manhood. As if she cared.

  Riley had never been overly fond of heights. By the time he scrambled down the deck and dropped easily to the clearing beneath she was thoroughly spooked. “Jump,” he told her. “I’ll catch you.”

  Her legs didn’t seem to want to hold her. She looked down at Robin and shook her head.

  “It’s either them or me, baby. I suggest you jump. Climb partway down the trellis first.”

  “I don’t know--” She made her way slowly over the ledge.

  “Do it.”

  She squeezed her eyes shut, and flung herself off her perch.

  He lay under her for a second after she was safe in his arms, looking slightly stunned. He’d taken all her weight, then pitched backwards. “Did I snap your spine?” she asked, breathless, but proud of herself. He was still holding her and she was glad of it. She could feel his heart pounding wildly under his shirt.

  He smiled. “I’ll live. You weigh a ton.”

  “I do not!”

  “Come on.” He got to his feet, took her hand and led her through a wicked tangle of blackberry brambles, careful to protect her from the barbs. She could see the bloody scratches that covered his hands and one that had marred his jaw. He spoke in whispers as he dragged her though the undergrowth. “Tell me everything you saw, Rye. Don’t leave out anything. Did you get their license plate number?”

  “That was easy,” she whispered back. “It was FUN LVR. Todd’s plates. They were driving Todd’s beautiful Viper sports car. Are you a cop?” she asked hopefully. Maybe, she prayed, just maybe he was a cop after all.

  “No, Riley. I’m not a cop. Tell me the rest.”

  She told him all she could recall. “You’re on the wrong side of the law, aren’t you? Do you work alone? Or for some syndicate? The Mafia? Or a gang?”

  “Yeah. The Carry-on Gang. I used to be the one with the bad teeth.” He sighed deeply, brushing pine needles out of his dyed black hair. It was so obvious to her now that he was Robin. “You didn’t call anyone, did you, Rye? You didn’t call Mary from town and blab anything?”