“I’m sorry about that, too, Lou. They were the loves of each other’s lives. You and I both know they loved each other more than they loved their daughters.” Nina crossed her arms over her stomach. “Sometimes life just works out that way.”
“Oh, you can be generous because you got the goods after Dad kicked off.”
“Lou, baby? Lou, you out here?”
The slurred words came out of the darkness, along with a shuffling gait.
What now? As if all this family drama wasn’t enough.
“Over here, Kip.”
A lean man with tousled sandy hair came up from the beach, listing to the side as he scrambled up to the path. The stink of stale beer came off him in waves.
He staggered to Lou’s side and draped a heavy arm across her shoulders.
“This is my stepsister, Nina, the golden child. Nina, this is Kip, my partner in crime.”
Keeping her feet rooted to the ground, Nina leaned in with an outstretched hand. “Good to meet you, Kip, but Lou doesn’t need a partner in crime.”
Ignoring the proffered handshake, Kip hacked and spit into the sand dunes. “Just a figure of speech.”
Nina nodded in Jase’s direction. “And this is Jase.”
Jase held up one hand. He had no intention of shaking with Kip. The guy might topple over on him in a drunken free fall.
Nina continued to pretend this was some normal social gathering.
“Where did you and Lou meet?”
“In a bar.” Kip pulled Lou in for a sloppy kiss on the side of the head.
“I meant—” Nina rolled her eyes “—what city?”
“Portland.” Lou brushed a sandy lock of hair from Kip’s eyes. “I’ve been living in Portland.”
“Are you staying here now?”
“Just in town at one of the dumpy fishermen’s motels.” She clicked her tongue. “Don’t worry, little sis. It’s not going to be permanent. I have some business to settle.”
Jase studied Lou and Kip side by side through narrowed eyes. The only business he could imagine these two settling is a drug deal. That, or harassing Nina.
He took Nina’s arm. “We were just on our way back to Moonstones.”
“And we were on our way back to the bar.” Kip tugged on Lou’s hand. “Come on, baby. Let’s finish gettin’ our drink on.”
The other couple squeezed past them on the path to make their way back to the town. Once again, Jase caught a strong whiff of booze. Had Kip bathed in it?
When Kip and Lou disappeared into the night, Nina let out a long breath. “I can’t believe she’d hook up with someone like that.”
“Seems to me old Kip is just her type.”
She pulled her jacket around her body. “Lou needs help, professional help. I don’t understand people who refuse to seek therapy and medication when it’s glaringly obvious to everyone around them that they need them.”
“I’m not sure. I’ve heard the drugs flatten out your personality, and people don’t like that.”
“Some personalities need flattening.”
“Lou sure holds a grudge, doesn’t she?” A bird, probably an escapee from the sanctuary, shrieked above them and Nina jumped.
“Where’s her mother?”
“Lou’s mom has been through a couple of husbands already. She could be anywhere, since she pretty much washed her hands of Lou, too.” She kicked at a rock with the toe of her shoe. “One thing Lou did have right is that her father left her mother for my mom.”
“That’s not your fault.”
“Lou instinctively knew the score when she was nine years old. She hated me and my mom from the get-go.”
“Nine is old enough. Did your stepfather prefer you to his own daughter?”
“Not really—he preferred my mom and my mom preferred him. I was a lot easier to deal with than Lou, and Dad knew she’d sell Moonstones as soon as she could and then drink up, snort up and shoot up the profits.”
The road curved in front of the disputed B and B, and a glimmer of light from the quarter moon spilled across Nina’s disabled boat.
“Lou denied sabotaging the boat.”
Nina snorted. “Did you think she’d admit it? She’s never fessed up to a single misdeed in her life.”
“You have a complicated life, Nina.” He opened the latch of the broken gate and ushered her through with a sweep of his hand.
“You have no idea, Jase.”
He held his breath as she moved past him, her light fragrance tickling his nose. Would she tell him about her pregnancy? Open up about Simon?
She climbed the two porch steps and turned to face him.
He held her gaze, ready for her confidences. Not that he’d be sharing any of his own—revealing his identity was not part of his assignment—yet.
“You know that proposal you made over dinner?”
He blinked. Not what he’d been expecting, but he’d go with it. “About moving in here?”
“Yes. Still interested?”
“Sure.”
“Good.” She turned and shoved open the front door of the B and B. “Because I want you to move in—right here, right now.”
* * *
THE THRILL THAT rushed through his body better be for the assignment and not the woman. She’d done a one-eighty and ditched her previous reservations. Had Lou spooked her?
“Why the sudden turnaround?”
“Do you see it that way? I told you I’d consider it after doing a background check.”
“And now you don’t need a background check?”
“Now I’ve seen Lou and the company she’s keeping.”
“Do you really think Kip is helping her? The dude seems barely capable of a coherent thought.”
“I’ve seen his type before. Lou’s been with this type before—they egg her on and use her because they think she has some money coming. They encourage her in her wild schemes.”
“He scares you?”
“They both do. Did you see his eyebrows?”
He raised one of his own. “I didn’t notice.”
“They were lighter than his hair.”
“Is that supposed to be some sign of evil or something?”
She pinched his arm. “He gave me the creeps.”
“Okay, I defer to your creep meter, but if you want me to move in tonight, I’m going to have to go back to my motel and get my stuff.”
“I’ll take you back in my truck. You can start some repairs tomorrow and write whenever you want.”
“And run interference between you and Lou and Kip. Is that it?”
“If you don’t mind.”
“I don’t mind at all.” He came here for that express purpose—to run interference for Nina Moore—not that she knew it.
“Hold on and I’ll get the keys to the truck.” She left him standing at the door while she ran to the kitchen and snagged a set of keys from a hook.
The driver’s-side door of the truck protested when he opened it for her. “Is there anything at Moonstones that’s not falling apart?”
“No, and that includes the current owner.” She hopped onto the seat and slammed the door.
He climbed in beside her. “If it’s too much for you, Nina, why don’t you go back to LA? Lou seemed to think you had it made there.”
“Lou?” She adjusted her mirror. “You believe anything Lou says?”
“Does that mean you didn’t have it made in LA?”
She bit her lip before starting and once again he expected confidences.
“I liked my job, had plenty of clients and left a lot of friends there, but this island has something...”
“A dilapidated B and B and crazy family members.”
He didn’t know why
he was trying to encourage her to return to the big city. It would be so much harder to watch her there, and what possible excuse could he offer now for turning up in LA?
She laughed and he liked the sound. She needed to laugh more—for the baby.
“With your help, Moonstones won’t be dilapidated for long and hopefully Lou will be on her way, taking her low-life companion with her.”
“Once she finishes her important business.”
She swung the truck onto the road leading to town, a smirk twisting her lips. “I’m afraid her important business is getting me to cough up some money.”
“Will you? Have you ever?”
“I’ve given her a few bucks here and there, but that only seems to encourage her. Honestly, I do it out of guilt.”
“Because your mom stole her dad away from her mom? That’s ridiculous.”
“I know it is. I just know how it feels to lose a parent.” She glanced at him. “You heard Lou. My dad abandoned me and my mom when I was a baby.”
“For another woman?”
“I have no clue, but my mom raised me alone until Bruce Moore came into her life.” Her hands tightened on the steering wheel. “A baby needs two parents, don’t you think?”
He licked his dry lips. “It’s optimal.”
As if sensing something in his tone, she turned to him. “Have you ever been married? I’m assuming you’re not now because, well, you don’t wear a ring and I can’t imagine your wife being okay with you escaping for a few months to write.”
“I am not now, nor have I ever been married.”
“Children?”
“None that I know of.” He didn’t feel like talking about babies right now—hers or his.
Nina nodded once. Then she wheeled into the space in front of his motel room and threw the old truck into Park. “Do you need any help packing up?”
“It’ll take me five minutes.” He jumped from the truck and five minutes later with his laptop tucked under his arm, he tossed his duffel into the back of the truck.
When he climbed into the passenger seat, Nina was texting on her cell.
“Everything okay?”
She held up the phone. “Still putting the finishing touches on a client’s house in Malibu—job from hell.”
“You should be able to do right by Moonstones with your expertise.”
“Yeah, but I need a clean palette to work with, not a place falling down around my ears.”
“That’s where I come in.”
It took her three tries before the engine cranked to life, and she looked over her shoulder before backing out of the space.
“How’d a soldier and a writer wind up being handy with a hammer and saw?”
“I learned everything from my grandfather. He liked working with his hands, even after...” He tugged on his ear before the truth came spilling from his lips. “Even after he got old.”
He didn’t need to clue in Nina that his grandfather had been a self-made millionaire and that his father had expanded the family fortunes and gone into politics. That reality wouldn’t mesh with Jase Buckley’s.
“Do you mind if we make a stop before heading back to the B and B? I need to pick up a couple of things.”
“There’s a drugstore on the main drag, a few doors down from Mandy’s.” She swung the truck around in a U-turn and rumbled back down the main street of town.
When she parked, he grabbed the handle of the door. “You coming with me?”
“Sure.”
As they walked inside the brightly lit drugstore, the clerk behind the register called out, “You have ten minutes until closing.”
“We’ll make it quick.” Jase nudged Nina with his elbow. “Toothpaste.”
They rounded the corner of the aisle, which gave them a straight shot to the pharmacy counter, where a couple was arguing with the pharmacist.
“I think someone else was using my driver’s license.”
“I don’t think so, ma’am.”
“God, don’t call me ma’am. I’m only thirty-one.”
Nina tugged on his sleeve to try to escape her stepsister’s notice, but Lou caught the movement and turned.
“Nina, can you help me out?”
“Ma’am... Miss, you can’t have someone buy the antihistamine for you after just trying to buy it yourself.”
Lou cussed at the pharmacist and slapped the counter. “Hick town.”
“C’mon, babe. Let’s go back to the bar.” Kip, looking more beat-up than before, wrapped an arm around Lou’s waist.
“Hold on.” She shrugged him off. “What are you doing back in town, Nina? I thought you were headed to Moonstones.”
“Needed a few things.” Nina tipped her chin toward the pharmacist, who was hastily rolling down his window.
“Why are you trying to buy antihistamines?”
“You know, runny nose.” Lou pinched the bridge of her nose and sniffed.
“Antihistamines are for stuffed-up noses.”
Lou plucked a tube of lip balm from a hook and put it in her pocket. “You have any room at the inn?”
“What?” Nina visibly recoiled.
“At Moonstones? Any vacancies for me and Kip to crash?”
“I...I thought you were staying here in town.”
“We are, but we’re running out of cash.”
Jase reached his arm behind Nina and gave her hip a pinch. Surely, she could say no to her stepsister. The woman tried to drown her just this afternoon.
“I can’t help you, Lou.”
“Of course not. You got what was rightfully mine, and now you can’t even spare a room for me.”
“Jase and I were expecting to be alone.”
His heart slammed against his chest. What was she playing at?
Lou narrowed her reddened eyes. “You and your handyman?”
Nina tossed back her shoulder-length hair. “I just didn’t want to get you all wound up, Lou, but I’m getting sick of tiptoeing around you.”
“What does that mean?” Lou’s voice had taken on a dangerous edge, and Jase inched closer to Nina.
“Jase isn’t my handyman. He’s my fiancé.”
Chapter Six
Nina wrapped her arm around Jase and gave him a squeeze. It was what she’d been wanting to do ever since he pulled her from the water anyway. Now she had an excuse.
Kip had dropped the box of condoms he’d been fidgeting with, and Lou gave it a kick with the toe of her shoe.
Nina’s muscles went rigid, bracing for the explosion.
Lou’s trembling lips stretched into a line and then turned up at one corner. “I’m not as surprised as you might think.”
Not as surprised as Jase anyway, who hadn’t uttered a sound since her announcement of their impending nuptials.
“And why is that, Lou?”
“I’d heard you were engaged, but that was through a friend of an acquaintance’s second cousin or something like that, so I didn’t know how true it was.”
Lou had heard about Simon? Nina squared her shoulders. “Well, it’s true, and we want to be alone, so you’ll have to tough it out at your motel.”
“I wouldn’t expect anything more of you, sis.”
A low sound rumbled in Jase’s throat and he pulled her close. “Now that I’m going to be part of the family, I can speak my mind. You need to stop ragging on Nina and get your life together.”
“Really.” Lou crossed her arms and her light-colored eyes glittered.
Even though Lou self-medicated with drugs and booze, those substances did nothing to calm her down. But Nina had Jase to protect her until Lou left the island. She hoped he understood the lie. He seemed to be taking to it like a natural.
“And we don’t want to see any more damaged boats or anything like it.”
Lou spun around and grabbed Kip by the arm. “Whatever. You two deserve each other, but just beware, Jase. Nina will use you and then chew you up and spit you out.”
“Folks.” The clerk was standing at the end of the aisle, her eyes wide. “We’re closed.”
Jase waved his toothpaste in the air. “I still need to buy my toothpaste.”
“Hurry it up, and you two—” she wagged a finger between Lou and Kip “—you need to leave.”
They left without a backward glance, Kip leaning heavily on Lou.
Aware of the cashier glancing from her face to Jase’s, Nina kept her mouth shut as Jase paid for his toothpaste and they walked out of the store.
Not until they climbed into the truck and Nina cranked on the engine did Jase whistle through his teeth.
“Sorry, sorry.” She put her hand on his thigh. “It wasn’t just a way to get her to stop trying to wiggle into Moonstones—it was a message to her that I wasn’t alone. I hope you don’t mind too much. If she follows her usual pattern, she’ll throw a few temper tantrums and then leave the island when she doesn’t get her way, and hopefully take that creepy Kip with her.”
“I’m okay with it just as long as you don’t start shopping for rings.”
The hand on his thigh curled into a fist and she punched him. “Don’t worry.”
After they returned to the B and B and she’d shown him to the one decent room and bathroom, she lay on top of her covers in a pair of flannel pj’s, rubbing her belly.
The stress of seeing Lou today couldn’t be good for the baby.
Had her stepsister been watching and waiting for her to return to Break Island? Did she have spies here reporting to her?
She rolled to her left side and buried her face in the pillow. Now she sounded as paranoid as Lou.
At least seeing her stepsister today convinced her that the hole in the boat was not the work of Simon. And why would it be? What did Simon have to gain from giving her a scare?
She’d escaped from LA to Break Island for relaxation and simplicity, but her problems had not only followed her, they’d multiplied.
Now she didn’t have to face them alone. She had Jase Buckley on her side.
The Pregnancy Plot (Brothers In Arms: Retribution Book 2) Page 5