Fatal Attractions

by Jeanne Foguth

  Windy gave him a sharp look.

  Ariel took the hint and protested, "But your sister came all this way to see you."

  "Go," Windy said. "Once you feel better, we'll all be happier."

  Ariel sighed. If the Bronco was actually following Stone, the only immediate jeopardy was her heart breaking when she left Stone behind. Perhaps she could break their plans to him gently, as they walked. Windy offered her a glass of water with one hand, a tiny white pill with the other.

  As soon as she swallowed it, Stone placed the half-full tumbler on Dolly’s tiny counter, took her hand and tugged her toward the hatch. The moment her feet touched the dock, his arm went around her waist and he pulled her close, as if afraid she’d run away. What had gotten into him? Whatever it was, she liked it. And hated that whatever was developing between them would end before it actually began.

  She put her arm around his waist. It felt right, except for the handgun, which was stuck in the back of his jeans. She jerked. He looked down at her. "Don't worry. I'll guard you."

  Her spine stiffened. "Why do you think I need protection?"

  He arched a brow. "Don't we all?" He matched his pace to her, his eyes continually roving the area and seeming to peer into every shadow.

  And she'd thought she was the fearful one. What kind of contract had he signed? One with the devil?

  His hand seductively caressed her side. "Down in the Lone Star,” he said, “riggers have a saying 'don't bring a knife to a gunfight'."

  "And you've brought that philosophy to the new frontier." He chuckled and hugged her closer. "I like your sister."

  "Me, too." He suddenly stopped walking and turned to her. "How'd you like to go to my parent's anniversary with me? It's in August?"

  "You're kidding." He shook his head. "But-"

  "At least think about it."

  "Fine." She'd disappear from his life in the very near future, but she’d wonder what might have been for the rest of her life. How long would he remember it?

  As if by unspoken agreement, they continued their walk in silence. Would he be angry when they disappeared? Worried? Ariel tore her thoughts away from him, focused on the soaring gulls and fought a consuming sense of desolation. She took a deep breath, but the scent of kelp mixed with salt and Stone O'Banyon. Her steps faltered. He pulled her close as he slowed his pace.

  "Stone, I can't go to Texas with you or anywhere else.” The confession burst from her, leaving relief in its wake. Yet, he looked like she’d slapped him. Ariel put her fingers over his lips, silently beseeching him to understand. “The decision has nothing to do with you and everything to do with me."

  He clasped her hand, moving it from his lips. “Are you married?”

  “What? No!” Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the black Bronco. If he had problems like hers, surely he could understand part of the truth of her life. "By August, Ariel and Tempest Danner won’t exist."

  "Are you planning to die?" She shook her head. "Then don't make your decision now. Think about it." His tone was husky.

  "Why? What's so important about it? I don't know your parents and it's not like I'm your girlfriend or something."

  "That can be changed." The look he gave her made her bones melt. "I should have told you how I felt about you sooner. Instead, I kept fighting it."

  Dear Lord, this had to be a dream. She shook her head. "Don't say things like that." He couldn't tell her that, now. They didn't have a future or even a real past. They each only had what might have been.

  Stone gently wrapped his arms around her and hugged her close. Through a veil of tears, she saw his head edge closer. She put her hand up to fend off his kiss.

  Gently, his teeth raked her finger, and then sucked it into his mouth. Fireworks of feeling rocketed through her. She yanked her hand away before the moment overpowered all reason.

  He smiled as he lowered his head to claim a kiss.

  Whirlwinds of passions swirled through her. Ignoring the warning from her mind, she felt her defenses slip away and her willful body mold itself to him. The reality of Stone O'Banyon wanting her as much as she wanted him was more amazing than any girlish daydream and ten times more devastating because it could never be.

  He groaned and broke the kiss, then gathered her against him and tucked her head under his chin. Her ear pressed against his pounding heart.

  "Now you know how I feel," he said. Tears choked her. One broke free and slipped down her cheek. "Don't cry." He caressed her back. "I want you. I want our futures twined like the plaits of a rope."

  Her tears fell like rain. "It can't be. We don't have a future. We don't even have another week."

  "Why not?”

  “I can’t tell you.” Confusion and pain converged in his expression. He let go of her and tried to step away. She clung to him. "Listen to me. This has absolutely nothing to do with you or how much I care about you. It has to do with problems in my past that just won't go away."

  He went very still. Silently, he watched her. "Tell me what's wrong."

  "I can't."

  "Can't or won't?"

  "There's too much in my past that is terrible." Unable to look him in the eye, she spoke to the front of his denim shirt.

  "I'm listening."

  Her tears can hotter and faster. "I'm not the person you think I am."

  "Ariel, I love you." She shook her head. He nodded. "I want us to have a future. Let's both forget our pasts." The salty smell of dead fish wafted on the breeze. "I want you to meet my parents."

  "I wish I could." She wiped away her tears with the back of her hand. "But -" His kiss swept all objections from her mind.

  Chapter 31

  Knees weak, Stone raised his head. A brown haired man walking by gave him two thumbs up. He ignored the jerk and hugged Ariel close enough to feel her thundering heart.

  "I love you," he whispered.

  She trembled, but didn't utter the words he longed to hear.

  "Ariel, who are you?" he whispered.

  She stiffened. "What do you mean?"

  So she could speak, but chose not to. He closed his eyes and took a steadying breath. "Obviously you aren't Tempest's mother."

  "Why do you say that?"

  "Partly the age thing and partly the fact she calls you Sherry.”

  "What gave away my age? I though I'd easily added on ten years with the makeup and bun."

  Added what? He opened his eyes and stared at her. "So who are you, other than someone she obviously cares for?"

  She sighed. "Her sister." It sounded like the simple truth, but was the last thing he'd expected.

  "Will you please tell me why you're playing this role game?"

  For a second, he though an invisible wall had gone up, then she looked at the empty sidewalk and her expression cleared. "It's a long, horrible story." He guided her to a bench. When they sat down. she leaned against him and stared at the harbor. "Five years ago, when I was home from university for the summer, I made a promise to our mother."

  He hugged her close. "What was the promise?"

  "To protect Sabrina, Benji and myself from our step-father."

  "The leopard hunter?" She nodded. "Sabrina is Tempest and Benji is -?"

  "My older step-brother. Unfortunately, he acts like he’s Peter’s clone." Her mouth flattened and she struggled to swallow. "Benji worships the ground my step-father walks on. I wish-" She swallowed, again, then cleared her throat. "I can't prove it – I can't seem to prove anything. But I know that if Dad hadn't done any work for OPEC, he'd never have run across Peter and, and, and, I think that drink in Amman was the beginning of the end."

  "You mean your brother is dead?"

  "No, my father. I think Peter killed him because he was obsessed with my mother and wanted her for himself." She looked up at him, her face a mask of misery and running mascara.

  "Obviously he succeeded, since you refer to him as your step-father."

  "Mother had never handled money. It started out with
Peter helping her ‘deal with things’. Eventually, she got pregnant and married him. She lost that baby three days after the ceremony.” Ariel rubbed her arms, which were covered with gooseflesh, as she wondered how different her present life would be, if only her mother hadn’t been in such a hurry to legitimize the baby. Stone hugged her tighter. "Look, I know you're curious, but I really don't want to think about any of this. It's very painful."

  "What do you want to talk about?"

  "Nothing you want to hear."

  She couldn't have been more wrong. "If Tempest's real name is Sabrina, what's your real name?"

  "Our real names are Ariel and Tempest Danner. We had them legally changed. However, I was born Sherrill Francine Pendleton, after my father's mother and Tempest was born Sabrina Petera Baldwyn." She grimaced. "Peter named her after Ann's daughter. He's always been obsessed with her."

  "Who is Ann?"

  “Princess Ann is part of the royal family." She gave a slight shrug. "I shouldn't be surprised that you've never heard of her. Even dead, Diane makes the tabloids, and no one hears about Ann."

  "Were you raised in England?"

  "Partly. My father traveled a lot and my mother took us with him on long assignments. More of a nomad life than anything else." She looked out at a ship leaving the harbor. "Stone, I don't want to talk about my family." She shivered. "You've told me that you love me and that's very nice."

  "Nice!" He let go of her. She wet her lips, but didn't look at him as she stared at the water. "That's all you have to say? Being told someone loves you is nice?"

  "I wish-" She bit her lip and tears flowed down her cheeks. "I wish I didn't have to go."

  "You don't."

  She shook her head. "I have to keep my promise."

  "The one to your mother?"

  Her head made a jerky nod. "I can help you."

  "You have no idea." Her voice broke. She cleared her throat. "I think Peter killed my father. I know he pushed my mother in front of a bus, but he's worth millions and the case was thrown out for lack of evidence, even though at least a dozen people saw him do it."

  “Why would he kill her if he'd wanted her so badly that he'd murder to get her? That doesn't make any sense." She wiped her face and turned to him. Zebra like streaks of mascara marred her cheeks, but the oddest thing was that one eye looked blue and there was a brown area over the white. He frowned and peered closer.

  "My mother found evidence that Peter was an international assassin." She took a deep breath. "Instead of going to the authorities, she confronted him. He acted all contrite and gave her a big sob story about how he was being forced to kill these men and if he didn't kill them, the person controlling him would murder all of us."

  "And your mother believed him?"

  Ariel shrugged. "I'm sure she wanted to. But I knew that if he was murdering people, he was doing it because he liked killing."

  "When did your mother tell you all this?"

  "When I went home for summer vacation. Then, she made me give her that promise. After I did, she asked me to take Tempest to the park.” Tears muffled her voice. “At the time, I figured she was being melodramatic or something." She blinked away tears. "Tempest fell into the fountain, so we went home early. They were screaming at each other when we got back, so we snuck in and I got her cleaned up." She took a shuddering breath.

  "Go on. Tell me about it. You've held it inside too long."

  "After Tempest was dry, they were quiet, so we decided to go back to the park." He smoothed her hair out of her face. "Instead of going straight there, we stopped for frozen yogurt. That’s when Tempest spotted Mom and Peter walking hand in hand, weaving in and out of the crowds. I stood up and put my hand up to wave at them, but just then, he shoved her right in front of a bus. I watched him kill her and couldn't do a thing to stop it."

  He hugged her. "You should never have had to see anything that awful."

  "Peter didn't think if was awful. The only thing he thought was awful was that we told the authorities what we'd seen. Then, we testified against him, but his lawyer twisted our testimony into some sick form of dealing with our grief." Her laugh sounded bitter. "The judge dismissed the case. As I walked past him, he acted like he wanted to reconcile with us. Smiled and hugged me and while he was doing that, he told me I was next." She looked up at him. "Until I met you, every time a man touched me, I remembered that threat and flinched."

  His arms tightened around her. "I'll never let anything happen to you or Tempest."

  "He can pull a trigger and kill people from a kilometer away. You'd never be able to protect yourself, let alone me."

  "And you think you have a chance?"

  She nodded. "It's personal and he wants to see the fear in my eyes when he murders me. He once told me I might even be worth jail time."

  "He told you all that in the courtroom?"

  "Some then. Some more when he tracked us down the first time. If it hadn't been for Uncle Mitch..." She started sobbing.

  ‘Keen was a good cop and if he hadn't been shot, he would have died of cancer.’ He could almost hear Windy's voice. Dear Lord, had she watched her uncle die, too? Did she know he was in the last stages of cancer and the bullet might have saved him months of suffering? Should he tell her?

  "Ariel-" The brown haired man appeared between two nearby parked cars, then sauntered toward the black Bronco. "Sail away with me."

  "What?"

  "The earth is mostly ocean and Dolly is available. The three of us can stay at least a mile off shore so he can't shoot any of us."

  "You're serious."

  He nodded.

  "Why would you give up everything to help me?"

  "You know why." Because I love you.

  "When would we go?"

  "Tomorrow morning, just like we planned. We'll start out deep sea fishing, then take Windy and Link to a harbor and let them make their way back." He ran his thumb over her chin. "What do you say?"

  "Yes." It looked like the agreement scared her almost as much as the thought of facing her creep of a stepfather.

  Chapter 32

  Tempest stared at her wide-eyed. "You're kidding." Ariel shook her head. "Oh, wow! Just think of spending the next few years cruising the South Pacific in this great ole boat. That's just too cool."

  "It'll be a lot of work and you won't get a break from home schooling."

  "I don't care." Tempest ran her fingers over the polished wood. “Not even about the prom.” She clutched her heart. "I'll know Father can't sneak up on us or be behind the next tree. Because there won’t be any trees! How cool is that? I'll have my own room and no matter where we go, it'll be there, too." Tempest hugged herself.

  Ariel wished she could hug herself, too, but nothing could match one of Stone's embraces. Never in her most optimistic moments had she believed that she could be this happy or hopeful. Warmth spread through her.

  "I just wish Mozart could come Tempest looked out the porthole and sighed. “And I wish I could touch that glacier, just once. Can you believe that people can just walk up and feel something that incredibly old?"

  Ariel gazed out the porthole and shook her head. "I can't imagine anything surviving as long as it has."

  "Could we go see it after dinner?"

  "I don't know." The thought of leaving the sanctuary of the Dolly O sent shivers over her.

  Tempest fluffed her hair. "I'll ask. For certain Uncle Link'll take me." She breezed out of the cabin.

  Though Ariel felt like the side trip was a terrible idea, the only solid reason she could think of was the black Bronco's continued surveillance. If Peter had been behind the wheel, he'd have acted by now. And if the watcher had a shred of evidence that they were his quarry, Peter wouldn't have given them time to plan an escape. No, those dark mirrored windows obviously hid someone who was interested in Linkstone or its owners. Perhaps that was why Stone really wanted to sail away and give observers in far away ports the impression of a family trip versus a single man on the ru
n.

  Was that all she was to him? Camouflage?

  Tears stung her eyes. Even if he wanted to use them as a cover to escape something, wasn't she doing the same thing?

  Ariel groped in her duffel bag. Her fingers found her sketchbook. After pulling it out, she sat on the bunk and paged through the charcoal chronicle of their life. So much black in her past. Perhaps she should try to capture the glorious white of the glacier and its enduring promise of a brighter future.

  Later, while Windy and Link cleaned up the galley, Stone ushered them into his king-cab Dodge pickup. Somehow this didn't seem like the beginning of a new life, but more like a continuation of the one they started building when they moved to Alaska. Ariel hugged her ever-present backpack against her stomach, then tossed it into the rear and slid next to Stone. He smiled. Tempest, in the rear seat of the king cab, wiggled with excitement. Stone looked around the marina as if he was silently saying goodbye to a favorite place. "Looks like a fog is rolling in. That could be good and it could be bad."

  "How come?" Tempest asked.

  As he backed out of the parking slot, a thin wisp of mist seemed to give the truck a gentle lingering caress. "When it comes in at this time of night, it stays. That'll make it trickier to get out of the harbor in the morning, but it'll also make it easier to get out without anyone noticing."

  Tempest squinted at Stone, then turned her attention to her in silent question of how much he knew. When Ariel shook her head. Tempest's mouth flattened.

  Stone glanced at the rearview mirror and his jaw tensed. Ariel looked back. The Bronco was being blatantly obvious about following them. Stone turned north. Tempest giggled and pointed at the sign stating Meals Avenue. "Who named the streets in this town?"

  He shrugged and made a left, heading toward the airport. After he passed the place where the Cessna was tied down, the road narrowed and the terrain became isolated. Stone kept his attention more on his rearview mirror than conversation. "Idiot drives like he thinks he's on a race course."

  Only one person drove like that. A chill paralyzed her from head to toe. The black broncos were not following Stone; they were the target. The idea that they were following Stone had just been wishful thinking and it was about to get them killed.