No Risk Refused

by Cara Summers

  That last little item on her mental list had her stumbling down the last step onto the landing above the foyer.

  In love? When she felt that little flutter again right under her heart, she pressed a hand hard against her chest. The gesture did nothing to stop the sprint of panic. She was not in love with Cam Sutherland. He was her fantasy fling.

  And she could not think about this right now. It didn’t help that her gaze was fixed on the foyer where she and Cam had rolled on the floor that first night.

  Which was barely a day and a half ago.

  Don’t think about it.

  With her free hand she dragged a list out of her pocket. At nine o’clock Sheriff Skinner was supposed to arrive for an update. By eleven the caterers would arrive. And by one in the afternoon Bunny and Rexie Maitland and the wedding party would be here for photos.

  But the first thing she needed was coffee. Taking a sharp right, she hurried down the hallway to the kitchen, then stopped short in the doorway.

  Daryl Garnett and her Aunt Vi were locked in an embrace.

  Before she could recover enough to make a quick retreat, Daryl drew away. “Adair is here.”

  Vi turned and beamed a smile at her.

  Daryl signaled Alba, who was stretched out near the terrace doors. “I’ll take the dog out for a run.”

  Even after Daryl had shut the sliders behind him, Adair still couldn’t think of what to say. And she almost always could.

  “I’ve shocked you,” Vi said, a blush rising in her cheeks.

  “No.” Adair went to her then and took her hands. “You really like him, don’t you?”

  “Yes. Don’t you?”

  “Yes.” Adair realized that it was true. She’d liked Daryl from the moment he’d walked down that incline and greeted Cam with a hug. “Cam thinks the world of him.”

  “When I first saw him, he reminded me a bit of Clint Eastwood—the Dirty Harry movies—dangerous, competent. He knew just what to do with Alba, finding the bump on her head, checking her eyes.”

  She turned then to look through the glass doors as Daryl threw a stick. Alba raced off to fetch it. “She loves him now.”

  It certainly seemed so, Adair thought as the dog raced back to drop the stick at Daryl’s feet. He crouched down, and she licked his face lavishly.

  “I love him, too,” Vi said.

  Adair stared at her aunt, uneasiness and happiness making a queasy mix in her stomach. “You’re serious.”

  “Yes.” Vi met her eyes and smiled. “It was love at first sight. I thought that only happened in books or movies or for Angus One and Eleanor. But I think I fell in love with Daryl from the moment he took my hand and told Cam that we’d go find Alba.”

  She drew Adair with her to the table so they could both sit down. “It makes my knees weak to think about it. And I know exactly what you’re going to say.”

  “You do?” Adair wasn’t sure at all.

  “You think it’s too soon to know for sure and that falling in love and planning a future with someone takes a great deal of thought and a detailed plan.”

  A future? The queasiness in her stomach intensified. But it wasn’t her aunt and Daryl she was worrying about now. How could you possibly plan a future with someone when you never knew what it would bring? Or how soon it might end.

  “Aunt Vi, are you sure?”

  “I’ve never been more sure. Oh, it flustered me at first to believe a man could be attracted to me after all these years. And it was a shock to realize that he could make me feel this way—giddy and…beautiful. He makes me feel beautiful, Adair.”

  Adair squeezed her aunt’s hand. “Then I love him, too.”

  Vi leaned closer and kept her voice low. “I did the riskiest thing last night.”

  “You made love with him, I hope.”

  Vi blushed prettily. “Oh, yes. But first I took him out to the stone arch, and I kissed him. I wanted to make absolutely sure that he’s it for me.”

  The women were holding each other and laughing when Cam entered the kitchen.

  “Sorry to break this up, but the sheriff just pulled up. I think our strategy session is about to begin.”

  * * *

  HALF AN HOUR later, Adair was perfectly clear on one thing. Her first big wedding at Castle MacPherson, as promised, had turned into an undercover op. Daryl had begun their meeting by having everyone coordinate their cell phones so that they could reach each other instantly on speed dial. They also had a code word to use if they needed help. “Angus” meant that there was a problem. “Eleanor” meant they had a full-out code red.

  One day she was going to look back on this and laugh. For now she merely refilled her coffee mug. The tea seemed to be equally good. Vi had poured Daryl three cups. Her aunt looked like she was having the time of her life. Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes bright. Even brighter when she looked at Daryl Garnett.

  “Essentially,” Daryl said, “we’ve got a groom running a major scam and he has to marry the girl to get the money. And we want him to sign the agreement with Maitland before we arrest him. Otherwise we’ve got him only on intent to defraud and we’ll have to hope that the chain of evidence in Oregon hasn’t deteriorated or disappeared. Not to mention that if Scalzo makes bail on those charges, he’ll pouf again.”

  “There’s one other little twist we can add to the mix,” Skinner said. “My deputy has learned that at Banes’s request Bunny Maitland has hired a security service to provide protection for him. They arrived at the clinic late last night and they’ll be transporting him to the wedding.”

  “So he’s more worried about the cut brake lines than he wanted to admit to the local sheriff,” Daryl said.

  “And he may have a pretty good idea of who cut them,” Cam said. Then he turned to Adair. “Why don’t you take us through the schedule one last time?”

  Adair went to the wall chart. Bunny Maitland had taken her over it so many times she could have recited it in her sleep. “The florist and caterers will arrive at eleven and begin setting up the ballroom for the reception. That’s in the east wing.” She pointed to the large room at the back of the castle.

  “The bride and her parents along with the maid of honor and the flower girl will arrive at one, and they’ll use a suite of rooms above the ballroom to dress.” She shifted her finger on the floor plan. “The groom and his best man and his new security entourage will arrive at two and they’ll use a room over in the west wing. A team of photographers will cover all of that. Guests should start arriving at three-thirty, and the actual saying of the vows will occur at four-thirty, followed by champagne and food and dancing in the ballroom and the cutting of the cake at five-thirty or so.”

  She turned back to face the others. “If the groom hasn’t been arrested by then.”

  “But the signing of the partnership agreement and any wire transfers that Banes will make—that could take place at any point in any room,” Skinner pointed out.

  Daryl rose to stand in front of the floor plan. “Maitland has held off on the signing until Scalzo actually marries his daughter. I’m betting that they’ll close the deal directly after the ceremony.” He tapped a finger on the floor plan. “They could use the groom’s suite for privacy. Plus, it’s close to the garden and almost on their way to the ballroom.”

  “Logical,” Cam said. “Unless they make the signing part of the official celebration—a sort of welcome-to-the-family thing.”

  “We should be able to cover either option and pick up Banes as soon as he drives that proverbial nail into his coffin,” Skinner said. “I’ve still got my deputy on him at the clinic. He’ll follow Banes and his bodyguards and see that he gets here. But that still leaves us with the problem of this MacDonald guy. His agenda doesn’t seem to be as clear.”

  “I’ve got an idea about that.” Daryl moved back to his chair to pick up the folder he’d been carrying earlier. “I had time to play around with Adair’s computer last night. I sent some images to a good tech man and he
was able to send me these.”

  He opened the folder and passed each of them side-by-side enlarged photos of two men. “I had my guy age an old photo I had of Scalzo’s partner. Then I had him take the beard and long hair off our friend MacDonald.”

  For a moment there was complete silence as they all studied the images.

  “If it’s not the same man, they’re related,” Skinner said.

  The nods in the room testified to everyone’s agreement.

  “And he and Scalzo have had a falling-out.” Cam leaned back in his chair, crossed his legs at the ankles. “Both of them were in the area when the earring was discovered, so both of them could have it on their radar. Which gives MacDonald two reasons to show up at the wedding. One, to finish off Banes, and two, to get the earring.”

  “If he does show up,” Vi said, “Alba will know.”

  Daryl pulled another set of prints out of his folder. “I’ve also run off some copies of MacDonald as he appeared in the security disc with the beard. Even though I doubt he’ll try to make an appearance in that persona again.”

  “No,” Cam agreed. “He’ll choose something that will blend in. That’s his M.O.”

  As Daryl passed the pictures out, he said, “I figure we don’t bother the catering and florist people because we don’t want to spook the bridal party. But with the sheriff’s two men and the four of us, we’ve still got quite a few people looking for this guy. We all have to blend in, too. This is a small wedding and we can’t let Banes suspect that there’s a bunch of security people here.”

  As the rest of them continued to discuss the blending-in part, Cam drew Adair aside. “You’re nervous.”

  “It goes with the job.” The concern in his eyes touched her. “I’d be nervous even if we weren’t planning to destroy a bride’s wedding, catch a major criminal and try to predict what a crazy man might do.”

  “We’ll all be on the lookout for MacDonald. Skinner’s good and Daryl and I aren’t half-bad.” He leaned down and kissed her nose. “Just focus on doing your job. It’s all going to work like clockwork. The wedding will take place, Banes will be arrested and you’ll find a way to handle Rexie’s heartbreak.”

  This time Adair felt more than a flutter beneath her heart. As she stood with him while the morning light poured through the terrace doors, she realized that it wasn’t Rexie’s heartbreak that was worrying her. It was her own.

  15

  “THEY MAKE A good team,” Daryl said.

  “I was thinking the same thing.” Cam stood with his boss observing the two women through one of the archways that opened into the castle’s official ballroom. Alba lay at Daryl’s feet while Vi and Adair worked both separately and together to orchestrate an amazing transformation. Two hours ago the room had been an empty expanse of gleaming parquet floors and cream-colored walls. Now linen-covered tables were scattered along the walls to serve as food and drink stations. Flowers were everywhere.

  Daryl sent a sidelong glance at Cam. “We’re doing everything we can to keep them safe.”

  Cam knew that. The problem was that no one had so far gotten access to the castle who looked anything like Nathan MacDonald. And they’d been looked at by a lot of people. None of the florists or caterers or any of their drivers bore any resemblance to the images that Daryl’s tech man had captured on the prints.

  “I promised Vi we wouldn’t let anything happen to Adair. So we won’t.”

  No, they wouldn’t. Adair was in business mode with her curls sternly disciplined into a knot at the back of her head. She wore a professional-looking pale gray linen suit. A notebook was in her hand and she kept methodically checking things off.

  “I’ve never met a woman quite like her,” Daryl said.

  Since the words echoed his own thoughts, it took Cam a beat to realize that Daryl was talking about Vi.

  Turning, Cam studied his friend’s face. Daryl was looking at Vi as if he simply couldn’t take his eyes off of her.

  “She was the last thing I was expecting when I came up here,” Daryl said. “But she’s it for me. She’s everything I want.”

  Cam shifted his gaze back to Adair. She was it for him, too. Hadn’t he know that seven years ago when he stood with her under the stones? He turned back to Daryl. “So what are you going to do about it?”

  Daryl met his eyes. “I’m going to adjust my plans to include Viola MacPherson. I’m going to ask her to marry me. But first, we have a fake wedding to pull off and an arrest to make.”

  As if on cue, Cam’s cell phone rang. It was Sheriff Skinner. “The bride’s side of the wedding party and a photographer have arrived.”

  “This is where the fun starts,” Daryl said.

  * * *

  TWO HOURS LATER, Adair took the stairs two at a time and ran full tilt into Cam on the landing.

  “Whoa,” he said. “Stop. Take a breath. Everything’s fine in the bride’s suite.”

  She narrowed her eyes. “How do you know?”

  “I edged the door open and took a peek. Bunny is running the photo session like a little general.”

  It would be a waste of time to tell him he wasn’t supposed to be peeking. “I need to check in with them anyway. The groom and the best man are here safe and sound in their room. The father of the bride has joined them for coffee.”

  He smiled at her. “Confess. You sneaked a peek in there, didn’t you?”

  “I didn’t have to. Daryl has the room pretty well staked out. And Aunt Vi just took a tray of sandwiches and some tea and coffee in. The two hired security people are going to get Banes to the stone arch in a wheelchair. The doctor hasn’t okayed the crutches yet.”

  “What did I tell you? Everything is proceeding like clockwork,” Cam said. “And I have some good news for you.”

  “What?”

  “After our talk last night, I called my brother Duncan and sent him on what you might call a little fishing expedition.”

  She narrowed her eyes on him. “And that is good news because?”

  “He’s in Montana. He paid a visit to the Carlson Horse Farm, and he caught quite a big fish.”

  She grabbed his arms. “Will you stop talking in CIA code and tell me? What did he find out?”

  “Your theory about blocked messages and conspiracy were right. And your hunch that the mothers were engineering that part was spot-on. After Barry went home for the funeral, Bunny and Barry’s mother became very friendly. Bunny evidently explained in great detail just how unhappy Barry was in the practice on Long Island and convinced the other woman to help her thwart communication between the two kids. Mrs. Carlson came up with a few creative ideas of her own. Barry wasn’t even aware he’d sent Rexie a letter asking for a divorce, nor that he’d signed the divorce agreement. His mother admitted to Duncan that she got his signature both times in a flurry of paperwork she handed him.”

  “Duncan found all this out since we talked last night?”

  “He’s a damned good agent. An even better brother. He’s bringing the doctor here even as we speak. Barry wants to talk to Rexie. I thought maybe it might help to tell her that when Lawrence gets arrested and hauled away.”

  Adair grabbed him and kissed him long enough and hard enough to make her head spin. “Thanks.” She had to blink to clear her vision. “I’ll thank you better later. But I have to get to the bridal suite.”

  “Everything’s going like clockwork,” he repeated before he released her.

  Adair hurried up the rest of the stairs. The problem was that everything was going like clockwork. But that didn’t mean squat. Because so far no one had spotted Nathan MacDonald. The only drama that had occurred so far was when Alba started barking her head off at the limo that delivered the bride and her attendants to the front door. After that, Aunt Vi had banished Alba to the kitchen.

  She knocked once and then stepped into the suite she’d assigned to Rexie and her bridal party. The photo shoot was in full swing. Bunny had hired a team of photographers. One was assigned
to Lawrence Banes, another was taking candids of the arriving guests. And yet another had arrived with Rexie, her attendants and her mother in the limo.

  There were flowers here, too, along with the remains of the champagne and sandwich tray she’d sent up right after she’d originally escorted them to the room. She’d had no time to speak privately with Rexie, but the young woman wasn’t nearly as nervous as she’d been at the rehearsal.

  Not that she looked terribly happy. More determined. But even if she was a tad short of glowing, she made a beautiful bride. The photographer, a woman with straight, chin-length black hair and seriously framed glasses, had Rexie posing in front of a full-length mirror. The maid of honor and the flower girl stood to one side while Bunny peered over the photographer’s shoulder.

  “Stand up straight, Rexie honey,” Bunny directed. Then, stepping to the side of the photographer, she showed the woman a photo. “Make sure you capture the full length of the train in the mirror. Rexie’s dress is a copy of the one I wore for my wedding, and I want the picture to look exactly like this one.”

  “No problem, Mrs. Maitland.” The photographer took several shots.

  If Rexie was less than glowing, her mother more than made up for it. Adair thought of Rexie’s first wedding—an elopement that Bunny had missed. In spite of herself, she felt a tug of sympathy for the woman. And she couldn’t deny the amount of work that Bunny was putting in to make sure that this day was perfect—for both of them.

  Then Bunny waved the maid of honor and the flower girl into the photo frame. The camera began clicking again.

  “Smile, Rexie,” Bunny encouraged. “This is the happiest day of your life.”

  Adair felt her stomach tighten, then ruthlessly ignored the feeling. However bad today was for the poor bride, there were going to be happier days ahead. And one day—soon, she hoped—Rexie would be very grateful that she hadn’t actually married Lawrence Banes.

  When the photographer paused for a moment, Rexie sent Adair a smile and a wave. Bunny turned around and hurried toward her.