She heard his reasoning. It sounded possible. “You’re scared,” he said. “You’ve got to be. What I’m going to tell you is going to sound bizarre but it makes a point.”
He looked sideways at her.
“Three women have been snatched in this area over the past couple of months. That’s why we’re all so anxious for you not to drive around in the dark—alone.”
Leigh took deep breaths through her mouth. “Three women have been murdered here recently?”
“No. I didn’t say that. Two of them are back, only they don’t remember what happened to them. They’re fine, though.”
“What about the third one?”
“She isn’t back yet. She was the most recent one.”
Horrified, Leigh shot to her feet. “And you think they were all taken to punish you somehow? And if they got me I’d show up again, so everything would be okay?”
“I don’t think what happened to them had anything to do with me. I do believe they were taken by the same people who have a grudge against me. They’re troublemakers. They mix things up for the sake of frightening people. I don’t think they intend to kill innocent people. They don’t want the attention. But if they can cause enough distraction, take enough eyes off the ball, they intend to pick me off.
“They want the cops kept busy with unexplained disappearances.”
He set his glass aside and stood up beside her. “So now I sound as if I’m asking you not to tell the police about tonight just to save my hide.”
“I don’t believe that.”
“That is what I’m asking, Leigh.” He went to the window and lifted a drape again. The snow was very thick. “I want you to trust me to look after you. And I’m asking right after some joker broke in here and started dragging you out. I don’t want you to call the police because this isn’t their territory.”
“Territory?” she echoed. He seemed to be spilling everything out but she didn’t understand some of what he said.
“It’s not a job for the police. They’re great people here and they’re smart, but I’ve told you what I was involved in overseas and it was different. It is different.”
Leigh paced away and back again and went to look out of the window with him. “I trust you.” Perhaps a so-called sane person would already be in her car and heading out of here, but Leigh had a conviction about Niles. He would look after her and she would be okay.
“Is it possible they want me to go away?” she asked tentatively.
He turned so quickly, she jumped.
At first she thought he had a lot more to say, but he shook his head and rested a finger on her lips. “Could be,” was his only comment.
“Then they’ll be disappointed.” She poked his chest. “But I’m going to buy a gun.”
Once more he seemed ready to snap back some comment. He shook his head, smiling slightly. “I’ll help you do it, then,” he said.
“How long will it take?” She wanted it now.
“By morning you’ll have what you need.”
Leigh thought about that. “Don’t I have to apply for a permit and wait and stuff?”
“You’ll have your gun by morning,” Niles said in a tone that meant the discussion was over.
chapter NINETEEN
HE OUGHT TO LEAVE, Niles thought. There was a lot to do setting up round-the-clock surveillance on Leigh—and why not be honest, every minute he spent with her made it tougher to go at all.
“I’m okay now,” she said. “Go home to bed. You need your sleep.”
“True,” he said. “You’ll be all right here tonight. You’ll be safe. Just keep the cell phone near you so you know you can call. I can be here fast.” She didn’t know how fast.
“Right. I’m sorry for being a pain.” She almost sang out her words and for the first time, the smile she gave him was phony.
“I’ve spent a good deal of my life keeping watch on one thing and another,” he told her. “I really am good at it.”
“I’m sure you are.” Leigh looked quickly away. “This will sound silly. It certainly isn’t enough, but thank you for everything. And I’m sorry you had to go through that nonsense with my family tonight. Gib thinks he’s the alpha and Jan and I are the runts of his pack or whatever. He certainly doesn’t think we’re very bright.”
He didn’t respond for fear of telling her she was saying exactly what he already thought. Instead he went to throw more logs on the nearest fire and stood looking at a photo she had placed on the mantel.
“That’s Chris, my husband, and me when we got married.”
This had to be the photograph Gib had given her, all wrapped up in tissue and ribbon. What was the man’s game? Niles wondered. “Does it upset you to have this here?”
“No. I was surprised but when I put it up it felt right. You shouldn’t try to forget good things.”
These two had been lost in each other. “He really loved you.” He shouldn’t feel jealous of a dead man.
She cleared her throat behind him. “The feeling was mutual but how do you know?”
Niles gave a short laugh. “I’m no expert on the subject but I can see it in the way he looked at you.”
“If you aren’t going to leave at once, sit down again. I’ll run in the kitchen and get some snacks. I don’t think you ate much at dinner.”
“I ate loads,” he said, looking at her over his shoulder. “You must be mixing me up with your brother-in-law.”
When he sighed her expression sharpened. “You’re tired, Niles.”
She must think he wanted to get away from her. “I’m wide awake, suddenly. That happens. But I’m puzzled and not sure if I should say anything.”
“That’s not fair,” she said. “You know I’m going to tell you to go ahead and ask—whatever it is.”
He raised a brow. “Your wedding photo… It’s unusual. Looks like some sort of artsy effort.”
This time it was Leigh who sighed. “The love in the mist look was Chris’s choice—mine, too, I guess.” A misty haze framed them in the shot. “It’s pretty clever. You wouldn’t know it was taken in a hospital room if I didn’t tell you.”
He heard her breathing constrict and she held her throat as if it ached. “The hole Chris’s death left won’t get filled up—not in the same way—but I’m doing my best to patch it. He would want that. I do, too.”
Honor was an old-fashioned word, Niles thought, but Leigh had it. She was honest about her feelings. But he believed her when she said she was ready to move on. Grief took its own time and even when you thought you’d beaten it, back came the memories to punch you in the heart one more time.
“Where did you get married?” he asked.
“In that hospital room,” she told Niles. “We were supposed to have the whole church, cake, and flowers routine the following Saturday. Chris didn’t want to put the wedding off and neither did I. But he was the one who decided to move it forward a few days. I’ll always believe he knew… ”
Niles waited patiently, making no attempt to prompt her.
She caught his eyes and blinked. “Thanks,” she said although he wasn’t sure why. “You make me feel safe. You’ve got an open heart. I can feel it. Chris and I met right here—on the beach below the bluff. He pointed out where Chimney Rock is and we spent a long, long time supposedly watching to catch sight of it. We knew each other for two years before we were married. He died a few days after the ceremony.”
“Oh, God, Leigh.” He couldn’t find any clever words.
“There was an accident,” she told him. Apart from the police, she had never willingly discussed this with anyone until now. “We went off a road on ice and a boulder rolled off at the edge. The rock came for the car and Chris threw himself over me. I got a broken ankle and arm, a slew of Chris’s bones were smashed, and he had internal injuries. It took a week for him to come out of a coma.”
Niles turned a hand, palm out, and held it toward Leigh. She hesitated then put her hand in his and he threaded the
ir fingers together.
She tipped her head back but tears still escaped.
“Let it go,” Niles said. “Cry. It’s okay.”
“You’ve had more than enough of me for one day.” She sniffed and gave him a watery smile. “I’m crying because I remember how I felt then. I thought my world was over, but it wasn’t. It isn’t. Chris was one of those people who thought everything through. He even thought about taking care of me if something happened to him.” She frowned.
“Like he knew something would?” Niles suggested quietly.
“Yes.” She glanced past him at the fire. “That’s right.”
He was very aware of their two hands joined. “This is the right place for you to be.”
“How can you know that?” she said.
“Because I’m going to make sure of it.” He rested a hand on either side of her face and studied her intently. “I’ve already asked you to trust me—if you want to. Trust me and let go of any fear. I can make sure you stay safe.”
“Why should you do that for me?”
“I lost someone I loved once. Afterward I needed strength around me while I healed, but I was alone. You don’t have to be unless you tell me to get lost.” He grinned and his stomach swooped when she grinned back. “Are you going to do that—tell me to go away?”
“Er—nope.”
“Tell me one thing.”
“Depends on what it is,” she told him, visibly regaining some of her spirit.
“Do you like me?”
Leigh opened her mouth but no words came out.
“You don’t like me,” Niles said, beginning to frown.
“Of course I do. You’re a really nice, kind man and you’re a rock when things go bad. I can’t think of anyone who would have gone through my little family drama tonight and still come back because I said I needed them. You’re also much more straightforward than I’m used to.” Now there was an understatement.
“A really nice, kind man,” he repeated as if he were turning the words over and examining each one. “That’s a compliment.”
“Of course it is.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” Leigh said. She nibbled her bottom lip—which didn’t relax even a cell in his body. Her lips parted and stayed that way for an instant before she said, “Sometimes I don’t think you’ve spent a lot of time talking to women.”
He laughed outright at that. “You’re perceptive. I’m not smooth—sorry.”
“I should have mentioned that I really liked it when we kissed,” said Leigh. “And when you hugged me. And rubbed my feet dry.” She turned that wonderful bright, patchy red.
“You try to be tough sometimes,” he said. “I really am tough.”
“Sure you are.”
“I wouldn’t normally mention that about myself but I think it will help you believe I can take care of you.”
Leigh would love to ask him if he had any idea of the tight knots he was tying her in. For a few moments her attention shifted toward the door, and what she could have sworn was a thin film of pink, blue, green, and purple vapor slipping through the cracks. It separated into long, elegant fingers and wrapped around the room. Very faintly, a stream of fine glitter raced through the colored ribbons, then it was all gone.
Leigh turned back to Niles, who continued to study her as if she were something rare. “Did you see that?” she asked.
He looked around. “What?”
“Um.” She thought fast. Obviously she was hallucinating and she didn’t want to add that to the list of weird stuff happening to her that would cause Niles to worry. “Nothing, just the way the windows and doors aren’t quite tight. The curtain floated up. It’s stopped now.”
His long, steady stare almost suggested he knew she was fibbing.
“I want you to stay at Two Chimneys,” Niles said. “I hope you’ll make Whidbey your permanent home. But I’ll understand if you decide against it.”
“I’m staying here. My mind is absolutely made up. I love this cottage, and Gabriel’s—and Gabriel—and the island and the beach—and Blue”—she giggled—“but don’t tell him or he’ll be impossible.”
“You are an insightful woman, too,” Niles said.
“I like all the people here. Sally is super, and Cliff and the twins and everyone.” She spread her arms. “Just call me Pollyanna and let me be happy.” The darnedest thing was that she did feel suddenly and deliciously happy and whatever came her way, she was sure she could deal with it.
Niles chuckled, then grew serious. “And do you think you could like me, too?”
“I told you I do—you are the most likable man I know,” she said and flung her arms around his neck. “What the world needs is many, many more men like you.”
He laughed and gave her a bone-bending hug, and kissed the top of her head.
Leigh closed her eyes. She felt the beating of his heart and heard her own. She heard everything clearly, the sizzle and mumble of the fire, the wind blowing snow outside, birds settling into warmer crevices in the trees, a car passing on the road above her property.
And she thought she heard another, much softer heartbeat.
chapter TWENTY
LEIGH DIDN’T find the cat until after Niles had finally gone home, insisting that Blue was happy on the porch in several inches of snow. She had tried to bring him inside but Niles wouldn’t hear of it. Blue, he insisted, didn’t feel the cold because he was built to withstand it, including having a denser coat than a polar bear.
So she closed and locked the door, climbed the ladder to the loft, and saw Sally’s singular cat sitting on the bottom of the bed.
Once she decided there was nothing to be done about the little feline interloper until she could take it back to its owner in the morning, she curled up under the down covers and tried not to think, even when Skillywidden pressed her slight weight against Leigh’s back—and she heard that heartbeat, the same tiny, regular beat as she was now sure she had heard before.
Weird.
Not thinking was impossible and turned into a jumble of remembering her last days with Chris… and wanting to feel Niles holding her again.
When Leigh woke up it was still dark, as it should be at five in the morning. And she was so wide awake she knew she wouldn’t go back to sleep.
She got up and piled on the warmest clothes she could find.
Next the chains for the car tires, then dealing with the cat who must somehow have sneaked back this way on Niles’s bike. Sally wouldn’t want her kitty at Gabriel’s, so Leigh would just have to take her home before she went to work.
The cat in question continued to slumber in a cocoon on the down comforter.
Grateful her boots had dried overnight, Leigh emerged into the snow’s pure crystalline sparkle. It continued to fall against the darkness and she could scarcely keep a lid on her excitement. Nothing could be more beautiful and magical than this.
Blue had already been standing when she emerged, his tail waving slowly. He was on alert and watching her closely.
Beyond the edge of the bluff, Saratoga Passage was black and without dimension. Snowflakes seemed to snuff out in that darkness, like extinguished fireflies.
A muted, multicolored haze rose from the water, rolled toward the bank, and hung around until a shot of glitter whipped the colors into a spin that evaporated. Just like the whirl she had seen come into the cottage when she was with Niles.
Leigh held very still, waiting to see if more shining streams would come from the depths.
She smiled. The child within, the one who had clung to the comfort and thrill of imagination when everything else seemed to fail her, was trying to come out and play.
With purposeful strides she went to her car. Anyone who lived on Seattle’s hills should become a whiz at putting on tire chains. After a few years in the area, and despite having grown up in New Orleans, Leigh was a super-whiz and accomplished the task in record time. She would get going now and have coffee at G
abriel’s Place. That’s the habit she had formed anyway—just not quite this early. Still on the porch, Blue watched her, and she could have sworn he looked disapproving.
On her way back she stroked him and held his head into the crook of her neck. Evidently that got rid of any annoyance on his part because he sighed and snuggled closer. His head weighed twice as much as Jazzy’s entire body—more than that, probably.
Back into the cottage she went, only allowing herself to savor the warmth for a moment before going after the cat.
“Time for the stowaway to be brought to justice,” she said, climbing the ladder.
Fifteen minutes later she still hadn’t found Skillywidden. Exasperated, Leigh looked everywhere, but she knew when she was beaten. Cats were like that—they sensed when going to ground was in their best interest, and this one didn’t intend to be found until she wanted to be.
Sally would already be baking. Perhaps she hadn’t noticed Skillywidden’s absence before she left home. Leigh decided not to call but to get there and tell her in person. The cat was safe.
Faintly, so faintly it might not have been a sound at all, Leigh thought she heard the whisper of a heartbeat, and it wasn’t her own.
Either she was losing her mind or she was falling under some sorcerer’s spell that gave her superhuman hearing.
The drive was easy, through untouched snow several inches deep and still falling. The chains did their job perfectly, and with the blue-gray glow of dawn rising all around, Leigh reveled in the untouched landscape. It was still too cold for much of the snow to slide from tree branches, but she heard animals slinking in search of food.
Leigh braked and started into a skid. Fortunately she knew what she was doing and steered into the spin-out.
She heard animals moving softly, silently even, through the forest. Last night, warm and close to Niles, she hadn’t registered that it was weird to hear birds settling in the forest. She had accepted the sound of a car on the highway far from the cottage—moving through the snow.
Her own car slithered to a stop. Good grief, had she really heard Skillywidden’s heart last night, and when the cat hid from her today? Seeing shimmering colors slipping through cracks in the door and seeping from Saratoga Passage was something she refused to revisit—she hadn’t even told Niles about it, because he would have laughed.
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