“What do you want, Anthea?” Natalie asked wearily, in no mood to proclaim her innocence yet again.
Anthea’s gaze darted to the floor, then lifted. “I’m here to offer you a deal.”
Natalie was immediately suspicious. “What kind of deal?”
Anthea plopped her briefcase on the desk and snapped open the locks. She lifted the lid to reveal neat stacks of twenty-dollar bills.
“Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. A quarter of a million. How long would it take you to make that kind of money here?”
Considering what the publicity surrounding Anthony’s murder and her arrest would do to her business, Natalie didn’t even want to speculate.
“It’s yours,” Anthea said. “All you have to do is strike a bargain with me.”
Natalie had a feeling that would be like bargaining with the devil, and that the ultimate price might very well be her soul. “I don’t make bargains,” she said, remembering the one she had struck with Anthony and what it had cost her.
“I think you might want to change your mind.” Anthea’s gaze was as hard as concrete. “I want you to take this money and get out of town. Leave the country. Take your son and don’t either one of you ever come back.”
“Why?” Natalie demanded. “If you think I’m guilty, why help me leave town?”
Anthea shrugged. “Because it would be easier that way. You would be out of our lives for good, and Mother wouldn’t have to go through the torment of a trial, hearing the gruesome details of Anthony’s death, facing reporters and their endless questions day in and day out. I don’t want her to go through that.”
“If I run, I’ll look guilty,” Natalie said.
“And if you don’t, I’ll make your life a living hell. I’ll personally see to it that you’re put away for life. And Mother will get Kyle. Anthony’s precious son.”
Something in her tone sent a cold chill up Natalie’s spine. The way she looked when she talked about Kyle. The flash of hate that filled her eyes. The barest hint of rage that colored her voice.
For a moment, Natalie stared at the money. A quarter of a million dollars would solve a lot of her problems. She and Kyle could simply disappear, get away from the danger that faced them here. They could go someplace where Russo—and the Bishops—would never be able to find them.
But running never solved anything, and Natalie knew that by taking Anthea’s money, she would only be making her situation worse. She would never be free of the Bishops, no matter how far and how fast she ran. Because every time she looked into her son’s eyes, they would be there, mocking her from those green depths.
Her hands were shaking as she reached over and slammed the briefcase shut. “Take your filthy money and get out of here, Anthea. And don’t ever let me catch you near my son. Do you understand me?”
One thick eyebrow rose in mock disdain. “Oh, I understand you, Natalie. Better than you think.” She snapped closed the locks on the briefcase. “You’re making a big mistake. This is the only Bishop money you or your son will ever get your hands on.”
“I don’t want your money. Any of it. I just want your family to leave Kyle and me alone.”
The eyebrow arched again. “Does that include Spencer?” When Natalie refused to answer, Anthea smiled coolly. “I thought not.”
She jerked up the briefcase and turned toward the door, very deliberately striding across the dark stain in the middle of the floor.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Christmas music played softly from overhead speakers, and the tiny white lights on the Christmas tree glowed in the gloom of late afternoon. Natalie busied herself checking stock. There was a lot to do, and she tried to tell herself it was a good thing she’d had so few customers that afternoon.
But who was she trying to kid? The holiday season was a complete disaster, and with only a few more days until Christmas, there wasn’t much hope of salvaging it. The shop should have been a hub of frenzied activity, but only two people—an elderly couple shopping for their granddaughter—had stopped in.
It was just after six and the three hours until closing loomed before Natalie like miles and miles of bad road. In the deep silence of the store, with only the recorded Christmas carols to buoy her spirits, she found it difficult not to dwell on her problems. Suddenly, it all seemed too much. Natalie dropped her head in her hands, not wanting to give in to the despair, but somehow no longer feeling able to fight it.
When the bells over the door pealed, she hastily wiped her face with the back of her hand, and plastered on a smile as she walked around the counter to greet her customer. The smile slid from her face as she saw who stood inside her doorway.
“This must be my lucky day,” she said, hoping the telltale traces of tears had been wiped clean from her face. She lifted her chin and glared at Spence. “First Anthea, and now you.”
But in spite of her bravado, she couldn’t help the tiny thrill of nerves that coursed down her spine at the sight of him. He wore jeans, faded and snug, and a dark collarless shirt that did interesting things to his eyes. His face was shadowed with just the barest hint of beard, making him look a little too dangerous in the deserted confines of her shop.
He looked at her in surprise. “Anthea was here? What did she want?”
“She offered me a bribe to leave town. A quarter of a million dollars.”
“Damn,” Spence muttered. “What the hell is she up to?”
“I don’t know and I don’t care,” Natalie said. “I just want her—and the rest of your family—to leave me alone. And that includes you.”
Something flashed in his eyes. Something dark and… deadly. “I can’t do that, Natalie. Like it or not, we’re in this together and we need to talk.” Slowly he walked toward her.
She had to fight the urge to retreat, not because she thought he would physically harm her, but because she didn’t quite trust herself in his presence. The memory of his kiss—and what it had done to her—was still too fresh.
“About what?” She forced her tone to remain wary. “Didn’t you say enough last night? I did what you asked me. I didn’t tell the police about Russo, and now, because of that, I may have to send my son into hiding.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean Russo is still threatening me. He called me at the hospital last night after you dropped me off. At least, I’m assuming it was Russo. Naturally, he didn’t identify himself. He implied the car accident yesterday was a warning, and that if I didn’t cooperate, something worse would happen. He said he would be in touch to arrange the drop, and that if I went to the police—” She broke off, shuddering at the memory of Russo’s threat.
“What else did he say?” Spence asked, his voice hard.
“Nothing. But what happens when he calls to arrange the drop?” Natalie asked desperately. “What happens when I can’t produce the diamonds? Because no matter what you or anyone else thinks, I don’t have them.”
Spence came to stand directly in front of her, staring down at her. “I know you don’t. But I had to make sure.”
“If that’s supposed to make me feel better, it doesn’t.” She turned away, fiddling with a price tag on a blue and silver wreath as she tried to pretend his nearness had no effect on her. There could be any number of reasons for her shortness of breath, the hammering of her heart.
“I’m sorry you had to get dragged into all this.”
Natalie could feel his warm breath on the back of her neck, and she was afraid to move an inch, afraid to turn her head and discover just how close he was.
“I never meant for you and Kyle to be put in any danger.”
She did turn then, slowly, her gaze lifting to his. “Kyle is my whole world. If anything happens to him, I will never forgive you.”
The bleakness in her eyes took Spence’s breath away. She stood only to his shoulder. She seemed so small and fragile at that moment—so very vulnerable. And yet he sensed an inner strength, a steely determination to protect her son at any
cost.
His mother didn’t know it yet, but she was up against a formidable opponent, he thought, not without some pride.
Natalie’s straight brown hair fell softly against the sides of her face, and with an effort, he restrained himself from reaching out to tuck a loose strand behind her ear. She wore a short gray skirt that showed off her slender legs, and a dark blue sweater that deepened the blue of her eyes behind her glasses. In spite of the obvious weariness in her face, Spence thought that she had never looked more beautiful. More desirable.
Memories of the kiss they had shared last night flashed through him, and he found himself wanting to kiss her again. And again.
With an effort, he shook off those forbidden urges. Now was not the time, and besides, he had the distinct impression Natalie just might slap his face if he tried to kiss her today. After last night, he could hardly blame her.
“I want to talk about that window of opportunity we discussed last night. If we can find those diamonds, all our problems will be solved.” He deliberately moved away from her. He wanted to think the flicker of emotion in her eyes was disappointment, but he knew better. He’d seen Natalie’s anger too many times in the past few days to mistake it for anything else.
“Who else had access to that package before the courier picked it up that day?” he asked.
“No one. I boxed it up myself.”
“Are you sure? Think hard. A lot’s happened since then. Something may have slipped your mind.”
Natalie sighed, wanting to object to his demands on principle, but knowing her cooperation was too important. Her life depended on it, and so might Kyle’s.
She began to pace back and forth as she thought out loud. “Anthony came in around four o’clock. He was supposed to take Kyle to a Spurs game that night, so I thought that was why he was here, even though Kyle wasn’t home from school yet. He was late because he was in a race after school that day. Anyway, Anthony said he wanted to do some shopping for the mother of one of his clients. He said…his client had been away for a long time.”
“Yeah, in Joliet,” Spence said dryly.
“He looked around for a long time. Finally, he asked to see a music box. It was an Étienne—” she started to explain, then waved her hand impatiently. “It had a secret compartment that seemed to particularly appeal to him.”
“I’ll bet. Go on.”
Natalie shrugged. “That’s it. He bought the music box.”
“Did you ring it up for him immediately?”
Natalie frowned in concentration. “No. Some customers came in and he told me to wait on them first. I thought it was an unusual request for Anthony, but he insisted he wasn’t in any hurry. But after the customers left, he acted as if he couldn’t wait to get out of here. He didn’t even wait for Kyle.”
“Can you remember anything special about any of the customers? Did anyone act suspicious, overly nervous, anything like that?”
Natalie shook her head. “I remember it was extremely busy that day.” She glanced around her empty shop, thinking ironically how she had lamented being shorthanded that day. If only that was her problem now. “I don’t remember anything special about any of them. Nobody caught my attention, not even the FBI agent you sent in,” she added with an edge of sarcasm.
Spence refused to rise to the bait. “What did you do with the music box after Anthony left?”
“I took it back to my workroom and put it on my desk. I remember getting down packaging material and a label, and then I called the delivery service to pick it up.”
“Did you leave the box in your workroom?”
“I’m pretty sure I did. Kyle came in then, and after that, things got even more hectic. When Michelle—she’s the high-school student who works…worked for me part-time during the Christmas season—came in, I asked her to make out the shipping label and get the package ready for the courier.”
“So you didn’t actually see the music box again?”
Natalie shook her head. “I guess I didn’t.”
“And then the courier picked it up just before six,” Spence said.
“You said last night he didn’t have enough time to open the package, find the diamonds, then repack the box before he delivered it. So that just leaves me, doesn’t it?” Natalie asked, the despair overcoming her again.
“And this Michelle, you mentioned.”
“But she’s just a kid,” Natalie protested. “I’ve known her and her parents for ages.”
“I still want to talk to her.”
Dear God, Natalie thought. When would it end? How many more innocent people had to be dragged into this dirty business before it was resolved? Who else would have to get hurt?
She put her hands to her face. “This is a nightmare,” she whispered.
Gently, Spence removed her hands. He held them in his own hands as he gazed down at her. “Just hang on a little while longer,” he said. “We’ll get to the bottom of all this. I promise you that.”
“If it was just me,” Natalie said, “I could take it. But Kyle… I can’t stand to think of him being in danger. What am I going to do?”
Spence’s hands slid up her arms, and before Natalie quite knew how it happened, she was in his embrace. He held her close, and for the first time in a long time, Natalie felt completely safe. She knew it was only an illusion, but that didn’t seem to matter at the moment. She laid her head against his shoulder and sighed.
“I won’t let anything happen to you or Kyle.” His voice was a low rumble in his chest. She could feel his heart beating beneath her hand, and its steady cadence gave her a measure of comfort.
Natalie closed her eyes, wanting to believe him. “You may not be able to stop it. Spence…” Her voice trailed off in a quiver. “I’m so afraid for Kyle. He’s staying with my parents because I thought he would be safer away from me. But if Russo found us at the hospital—”
“Kyle’s safe, Natalie.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“The house is being watched.”
She drew back and gazed up at him. “By whom?”
“Some friends of mine.”
“Agents?”
Spence nodded. “You can trust them. They’re the best in the business. There’s no way anyone can get to Kyle.”
“But…how did you know he was with my parents?”
“I called the hospital early this morning. Your mother told me you were taking him to their house.”
“She wasn’t supposed to tell anyone,” Natalie said worriedly.
“Maybe she thinks I’m not just anyone.”
Their eyes met, and Natalie sensed that something important was happening between them. Something inevitable.
He wasn’t just anyone, and they both knew it.
She drew a deep, shuddering breath as their gazes held. “Thank you for protecting my son,” she whispered.
He touched his fingertips to her face—a butterfly caress that Natalie felt all the way to her soul.
* * *
SINCE BUSINESS WAS SLOW—nonexistent, in fact—Natalie closed shop early, and she and Spence drove to her house to have another look around.
“What exactly are we looking for?” she asked, as she let them in and flipped the light switch. Although she knew what to expect, the way her living room had been torn apart still shocked her. She gazed around, trying to suppress her tears.
“I’m not sure,” Spence admitted. “I just want to have another look. Something doesn’t fit—”
“Like what?”
As if he were a diviner looking for water, Spence slowly walked around the room. “What is it?” he muttered. “What am I missing?”
Watching him, Natalie was struck by the realization of just how far they’d come since he’d walked into that interrogation room a few days ago. Until then, she hadn’t seen him in seven years, and she had been filled with distrust, anger, and not a small amount of fear.
Now they were working together to protect her son and clear
her of a murder charge. Natalie wasn’t sure when she had decided to trust him. She’d had no one else to turn to and he had volunteered for the job. But it was more than that, and she knew it.
What she was feeling for Spencer Bishop was more than gratitude, and she would be a fool not to acknowledge it, to pretend it wasn’t there, or that it would somehow go away.
Because it wouldn’t. Not in seven years had her feelings for him disappeared. Oh, there was still a residual anger inside her for what he had done to her. For having misled her. For having made love to her when he had been engaged to another woman. For having left her desperate enough to believe in Anthony.
But there were other emotions that remained. The attraction, of course, but that was the least of it. When she thought about the way he had been raised, how he had been shunned by his family—his own mother—Natalie wanted to reach out and draw him into her world. When she glimpsed the bleakness in his eyes, the loneliness in his soul, she wanted to wrap her arms around him and show him what it meant to be loved.
That thought startled her. That she was even contemplating giving her love to Spencer Bishop again was a frightening prospect. He’d hurt her terribly once, and because of that pain, she’d done something that had changed her life forever. Spence’s, too, although he didn’t know it. What if he found out? What if he somehow learned that—
“Kyle?”
“What? I—I’m sorry,” she stammered. “I wasn’t listening.”
Spence looked at her strangely. “You said Kyle came into the shop that afternoon. Was anyone with him?”
“Oh, that. Blanche picked him up after school and brought him to the shop. Then a little while later, Wendy, his baby-sitter, came by and got him.”
“Did any of them have access to the package?”
Natalie frowned. “No. Blanche stayed and talked for a while, but she never went back to the workroom. Neither did Wendy.”
“What about Kyle?”
Natalie glanced at him in surprise. “What about him?”
“Was he in the workroom at any time?”
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