by Claire Adams
“That’s Mason, and I have to take it. Call your friend and tell her she’s welcomed to join us.” He stepped away, but then stopped and came back for another kiss. “I’ll find you when I’m done.”
“I’m going to take a swim.” His face lit up as he answered the phone and stepped away.
I went to our room and found my swimsuit, a pretty blue and white bikini that I’d packed for the trip. I’d worked hard to get my body into shape, and though I wasn’t built like a model, I’d fallen in love with the two-piece. I had hoped the hotel would have a nice pool, and though it had, I never got to use it. Gabriel’s pool put it to shame, and the minute I saw it, I wanted to dive in.
I couldn’t wait to call Kim to invite her over and hoped that she still wanted to come. She’d love the vineyard and the pool, too. I dialed, but she didn’t answer, so I left a message with the invitation and told her to call me back.
Heading down, I wore my cover up and sandals, but with the water calling, I dropped them by the pool and walked down the steps. The scenery was picture perfect, and I could have easily been in Tuscany or some other paradise.
The fragrant breeze from the flowers tickled my nose and I dipped myself down into the water and leaned back, letting the water lift me. Floating around in the shallow end, I was weightless and as I held my arms out, I pretended all the stress and exhaustion were slowly washing away.
This little slice of heaven was meant to be savored, and though I still worried about what would happen, I wouldn’t dwell on it. I’d let the situation take its course and come what may, I’d deal with it after. With any luck, Gabriel would be by my side.
I thought about what it was like waking up next to him and how now, after some time, we were holding each other closer. The kiss he’d requested had warmed my heart – and heated me in other places, too. It had been too long. I thought of having him again and knew that if I didn’t soon, I’d go crazy.
My body always responded to him when he was near, and I’d been anticipating him pulling me into one of the many corners of his home to give me what I craved. The urge was there every night in bed, but I’d kept my composure, not knowing exactly what was going on between us. Had that one time been our last? Maybe he wouldn’t want to be intimate with his sister-in-law and the others in the house?
As the thoughts went on in my mind, I heard someone clear their throat. I smiled at the deep male tone, and for a moment was imagining Gabriel’s eyes on me. “Well, well. What do we have here?”
The voice, which was not Gabriel’s, sent me into a scramble. I put my feet down on the bottom and kept myself under the water before I turned around.
A young man stood by the pool, looking down at me with the most incredible gray eyes that I’d ever seen, and that was only because they looked exactly like Gabriel’s. He had a hunger in them, raw and devilish, as if he were thinking impure thoughts and wanted me to know it.
“Harbor?” I gave him a sideways glance and waited to see if I was right.
Soft laughter escaped his lips as he knelt, crouching closer. “That’s not fair. You know my name, but I don’t know yours.”
I stayed on guard, not sure what to make of the way his gaze lingered on me. “I’m Luna Spencer.”
“Luna.” He nodded and stood, putting his hands in his pockets. “I’ve heard about you. You’re the assistant who is banging my uncle.”
I didn’t know how to react. He wanted me to be nervous, that much was obvious from the way he seemed to be stalking me, watching my every move in the water as if he would pounce if I made any sudden changes.
“I married your uncle.” I lifted my chin, but the laughter that echoed off the pool had me lower it and look up at him with narrowed eyes.
“You’re a brave one.” He put the bottle to his lips and kept his eyes on me as he tilted his head back to take a swig. This put him staring down his nose at me.
“Excuse me?” The statement struck me, and the more I looked at him, the more I thought I knew him. Had he come to the office? No, I’d remember him. He was so hot, it should be a crime, especially since I was thinking it. I was closer to his age than his uncle’s, but he was much too young for my tastes.
“I said you’re brave. I mean, after all, someone is murdering my uncle’s old girlfriends. I’d guess this paints a rather large target on your back.” He held up his beer hand and extended a finger to draw a circle in the air. As he poked the center of that air-drawn perimeter, he smiled very wide.
I’d had about enough of his intimidation. “We didn’t know about the murders when we married.”
“Ah, well then, your luck really sucks. However,” he swept his arm out to indicate the home and fortune around us, “I guess you’re not that unlucky.
He was a child being childish, and I wasn’t about to engage any further with him. Besides, his mother had probably put him up to it. “Well, it was nice to meet you.” I turned and swam to the middle of the pool.
“Was it?” He raised his voice across the space and it echoed off the water.
“Was it what?”
He downed the rest of his beer and stripped off his shirt. His chest was a much slimmer version of his uncle’s, but just as fit. I started to worry that he’d get in the water with me, but instead he kicked off his loafers and socks before rolling up his pants.
“I said, was it nice to meet me, Luna? Do you have water in your ears?” I shook my head and hoped if I stopped engaging, he’d go away, but without any concern for me, he dipped his feet over the edge and into the water.
“Come on, talk to me. It’s been a while since I’ve gotten to spend time with a beautiful woman.”
“You favor him.” His face twisted as his mouth pulled into a tight line. I hoped that it bothered him. I remembered Gabriel saying how he resented him and how he’d been acting out lately. Gabe would have been livid if he knew Harbor was imposing on me. Maybe that’s what he wanted.
“I look like my dad.” His tone had deepened, and anger flashed in his gray eyes, so hard, like his uncle’s.
“I’m sure you do, but you look like your uncle, too.” I paddled myself around a bit before hovering in the center of the pool. “It makes sense. They were brothers. Besides, I’d take it as a compliment.”
His smirk was back in full tilt. “Oh, so you like what you see.” It wasn’t a question, and though I had to admit he was gorgeous, I had no interest in him at all.
I forced laughter, and his brows lifted as he pegged me with a hard stare. He didn’t like me laughing at him, and I exploited his insecurity. “Only because you remind me of your uncle. I imagine you’ll grow up to be a lot like him.”
That remark had him jerking his feet from the water, but he didn’t stand up. Instead, he kept his knees bent and spread his legs, aiming his crotch toward the pool.
“I bet I could be like him in other ways too. Maybe better, even.” He licked his bottom lip, tucking it beneath the top one.
I swam to the side of the pool and pulled myself out to sit on the edge, keeping distance between us. I’d heard all I wanted and couldn’t believe this guy was a breath away from offering himself to me. I stood and walked a few steps to gather my robe and shoes. His eyes stayed on me.
“Don’t go.” He laughed playfully. “I’ll behave. I’ve had a little too much to drink, and well…you look damned fine in that bikini.”
I took in a long breath, leveling my glare. “Your uncle wouldn’t like the way you’re talking to me.”
“Maybe he won’t like the way you’re talking to me.” He stood to his feet as I wrapped the robe tighter and tied the belt. Harbor closed the distance between us, positioning between me and the house. I stepped back, but couldn’t go far enough to get away without stepping into the pool. “He might not like the way you pranced around in that skimpy bathing suit. I’ve heard he’s a man that doesn’t like to share.”
That last comment was a dig about his father, I was sure. But he wouldn’t know I knew anything
about that, and I wasn’t going to say a word against his dead father, not even to defend Gabriel. “I’m sure he knows better.”
“Confident, I like that. I’m sure all of his old girlfriends were the same way once. At least this time he’s picked a fighter.” The way he talked about the dead women sent chills down my back. I wondered if they’d fought off their attacker, and noticed Harbor didn’t have any visible sores or scratches.
I held my arm out to get around him, but he put himself in front of me as I stepped forward, right into his body.
“Oops, excuse me.” His hot breath tickled my nose with the scent of beer, but that wasn’t what had me nauseous.
When his body bumped into mine, it was like a thunderbolt hit me, and a memory from the hotel flashed before my eyes. I knew him. It wasn’t the fact that he resembled Gabriel at all.
The day I’d left Gabriel’s personal suite and went down to my own room after the police came, I’d bumped into someone in my hallway. It ha dbeen a brief moment, but I’d caught enough of his face to know that it was Harbor. He’d been in Las Vegas. No wonder his mother hadn’t known where he was.
Without another word, I pushed myself away from him and bolted into the house. His laughter rolled across the expanse behind me and sent chills up my spine. We had another suspect, but I wasn’t sure Gabriel would believe me.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Gabriel
My call with Mason had been interrupted when the guard shack called to warn me about Harbor. They’d let the kid in, and I assumed he’d go straight to his mother. I had no choice but to call Mason back and finish our business, but I’d been chomping at the bit to go find Luna and take a swim with her.
I’d seen the bikini in her suitcase back at the honeymoon suite. She’d left the thing open, its contents spilled in a heap, and the bright-blue and white had been obvious against all her other muted tones.
It was easy to let my mind wander as Mason rambled on, but when he mentioned the LA case and how the detective had gotten Tammy’s supervisor to admit why she was let go, it grabbed my attention. “What did she say?”
“She admitted that part of the problem they had with her was the fact that she was spreading lies about dating the owner, but that wasn’t the only issue. She’d also been coming in late and had even been caught going through another employee’s work locker.”
“Wow, why would she keep saying she dated me? Did she try to get special treatment? The supervisors would have all known better, and if they hadn’t, they would have asked, especially if they were going to fire her.” The girl sounded like a real piece of work, and I couldn’t imagine anyone thinking I’d date someone like that.
“They didn’t want to bother you with it because they knew it was a lie. But there was something else.
“She had been seen with another man who worked in a different department, so they are trying to locate him to see if he knows more. The dispatch manager didn’t know who he was, just that they both worked for the company. It’s been a while since she was let go, so it’s going to take some time to find him, if he even works there anymore.”
With the fact that I’d laid off several workers from a few different departments over the past year, that could make it even harder.
Suddenly, Luna rushed into my room with wet hair still dripping from the pool and slammed my door behind her. Horror filled her face.
“I’ve got to go, Mason. Call you later.” I ended the call and dropped my phone to my desk as I rose to my feet.
She met me halfway across the room and fell into my arms. My first thought was that she was hurt or that something had happened to her friend or father. “Tell me what’s wrong!”
Her hands shook as she took my hands, and by the chatter of her teeth, she had to be freezing. I led her to the loveseat across the room and grabbed the throw blanket off the back of it to wrap her in. “Luna, tell me!”
“Harbor. He...” I couldn’t tell if the fear was from something that happened or the idea of telling me about it. I nodded to urge her on. “He was in Vegas.” She kept her eyes hard on mine, and as the words sank in, I shook my head.
“Why would you think he was in Vegas? Did you overhear something?” She could have overheard Sandra talking to him, or perhaps he’d told Judy. He’d always liked the woman, and they chatted like she was his mother more than Sandra when he was around.
“I saw him. He came to the pool. He was acting strange and when I went to leave, he blocked me. I bumped into him, and that triggered a memory from the day I left your hotel suite to go down to my room. I bumped into a guy, and it was him. I’m sure of it.”
She was speaking so fast, I didn’t know what to say or where to start. “Slow down. Tell me what happened at the pool. What did he say to you?” The anger boiled inside of me, wondering if he’d gotten inappropriate. From the way she was shaking and hesitating to tell me, I already knew.
“No, you’re not getting it. He was in Vegas. He had to have known Cindy and Stacey.” The accusation brought my mind to a grinding halt.
“Wait, you don’t think… That’s insane, Luna.” I turned and walked away, unsure what to make of it. Harbor couldn’t have been in Vegas. Not in the same hotel, not knowing he could be seen there. He’d known where I was going.
“You don’t believe me? I’m telling you I’m certain. It was him.” She wanted me to believe her so badly, I could tell from the way the tears welled in her eyes. “I know it’s hard to take in, but he could be another suspect. You have to tell the police!”
“I’ll confront him myself. There has to be an explanation. He’s been gone for a while.”
She shook her head and leaned forward, burying her face in her hands. “He mentioned the murders. He mocked our marriage and compared me to your exes.”
“Harbor is a lot of things, Luna, but I can’t imagine him murdering anyone. It’s a mistake. He was only trying to get to you, and it worked. You need to calm down.” I walked to the bar and poured her a drink.
She glared up at me and took it, but she didn’t drink it. “I understand he’s family, Gabriel, but there was something off about him.”
I threw my arms up in the air. “You don’t even know him; how can you say that?” I realized I wanted her to convince me. I hoped she’d say something so I could stop defending him, but instead she downed the drink and slammed the glass down on the table beside her.
Then she got to her feet, and I realized that she was still cold and shaking and wet beneath the throw. “I’m sorry, Luna. Let’s get you upstairs. You need to change.”
She stormed out ahead of me, and I hurried behind her to stay close on her heels. I wasn’t sure what would happen if Harbor approached her again, but as it turned out, my nephew was nowhere in sight. I got her upstairs and to my master suite and locked the door behind us as she hurried into the bathroom and started the shower. By the time I joined her in the room, she was already stepping into the spray naked, her swimsuit in a pile on the floor with her robe.
I left her there to calm down and decided to turn the bed down for her. She needed to relax, and I needed her to tell me everything. The only way to sort this out would be to talk about it calmly, putting all the pieces together. If she was right and Harbor had been in Vegas, it could throw the spotlight off of me, but what would it do to him? Would it be worth it if she were wrong?
Minutes later, she walked from the bathroom and crawled into bed. Her hair was still wet, but bound up high on her head in a towel. She had my white robe on and the thing had never looked better. “He suggested I sleep with him.”
“Now that, I can believe.” She was gorgeous, piled up in my bed with the robe hanging loose over her breast, offering me a peek of her cleavage, and I wondered how much he’d seen of her in the bikini. “I’ll talk to him about that. He shouldn’t disrespect you that way.”
“You don’t believe me.” She shook her head. “And no, please don’t say anything to him. It will only make things wors
e. You need to trust me and look at the footage from the time I left the hotel. You’ll see he was there.”
“I believe you. As much as I don’t want to.” I sat beside her and stroked her hand.
“This is my nephew, Luna. My flesh and blood and the closest thing I’ve ever had to a son – and you’re telling me that he was in Vegas when all of this took place. I don’t want to believe you because it puts me in the horrible position of thinking he could be the killer, even though I know he couldn’t be.”
“How do you know that? I get that you know him, but as someone who doesn’t have the heart for being partial toward him, he was disgusting and perverse and the precise type who could do something like this.”
“I’m afraid to ask what he said to you.”
She pulled the covers up over her hips and after she got situated, took my hand. “I’m not comfortable explaining. I’m not comfortable with any of this, honestly.” I rubbed her shoulder and she scooted closer to lay her head in my lap as I repositioned.
“He knew them both. He’d also asked me if he could go along to Vegas, but I’d refused him. I wanted a minute away from him and his mother, and I knew he’d only get into trouble while I worked.” I stroked her back as she relaxed against me. “I didn’t expect the speech to go as well as it had and I never intended I’d have anything to celebrate.”
“Or that you’d get married. I guess if you’d let him come along, maybe he could have kept you out of trouble. Maybe he did it to get your attention. Maybe he did it to get back at you. It’s not like I know him, so you tell me, do any of those motives make sense? Would there be anything to gain?”
She spoke quietly, as if she were being lulled into a trance, all of the excitement from earlier slowly fading. Even her hands were limp, clutching the covers as she breathed steady and calm.
“If anything happened to me and I were put away for murder, those two wouldn’t make it. I’d have to make provisions for them, such as a trust, but it wouldn’t give them any greater access to my fortune. I’d still be in control of it.