He leaned over her and pressed her into the mattress, one hand coming round to cup her bare bottom. "Whoa now. Our baby. Last time I heard, it takes two . . . but, Kelly, you must believe me. I came here tonight to ask you to marry me before I knew you were pregnant."
“Really?” Tears burned her eyes. “You mean that?”
“Yeah. Vanessa cornered me with the accusation.” He rolled to his back and adjusted the pillow beneath his head. “When will you start believing me, Kelly? Everything I’ve ever told you is the truth. I promise I didn’t hear about the baby until tonight.”
“You can’t be too thrilled.”
He let out a deep sigh. “I admit it’s sudden, but I think we can make the best of the hand we’re dealt. We always have. Frankly, I can get used to the idea of a sassy, little Kelly, just like her mother.”
She slung her arm over his chest and squeezed him tightly, her lips quirking. “Or we might have a rambunctious, little Alex. What do you think?”
He grinned. “Either way, we’re in trouble, huh?” He placed his finger on her bottom lip. “Before I met you, I didn’t think this kind of love existed.”
She cupped her hand to his face. “And that it was just a fairytale?”
He nodded and stroked her cheek. “You taught me what real love is and a lot about relations between a man and a woman.”
“Me?”
“Yes, you. You taught me about making love—not just about having sex. I never experienced the connection before, but when I’m with you, I feel I belong. We’re together, for better or for worse already. We might as well make it legal. I want you for my own.” When he smiled a brilliant smile, her heart leapt with happiness. “And then you’ll have to come back to England with me,” he teased.
She ran her hand along his jaw. “We’ve certainly had some of the worst times, but also the best. You sure you’re happy about the baby? You know, considering that playboy life you had planned.”
“Yes. It wasn’t what I’d planned, but it’s what I never knew I wanted. I’m deliriously happy. About the baby.” He proved it to her by trailing hot kisses across her stomach. “About marrying you.” He pressed more kissed to her abdomen.
She forgot everything, except making love to him again. His mouth sought her lips eagerly. They made love again, slower now that the urgency was gone.
* * *
Kelly blinked her eyes and checked the clock on the nightstand. Seven a.m. Careful not to wake Alex, she untangled herself from his arms, and the sheets, and stepped into the shower. “I know what I have to do,” she whispered to herself as the warm water beat down. “I’ll give the company to Robert in exchange for the money I owe him and hope he accepts it.”
It had come to her in the middle of the night and made perfect sense. If she turned over the company to Robert, he could save Cochran Investments for himself and repay the investors. While she would no longer be a part of the business, this would also make things safer for the baby, Alex, Aunt Kaye, and herself.
By making things right with Robert, she might somehow salvage their lifelong friendship. She was sure with the love that Tammy had for him that he’d find happiness, too.
After she dressed, she lingered for a moment to gaze at Alex, sprawled on the bed, partially covered by the sheet. A wave of tenderness surged through her. His breathing was deep and easy, his hair tousled––he looked gorgeous and incredibly sexy.
She wanted to crawl back into bed and snuggle into his warm embrace and spend the next week with only him and room service. Smiling to herself at how much she loved him, she took her laptop and headed downstairs to print out papers for Robert. She’d leave the contract at the ranch for Robert to sign later when he returned. He could mail everything to the attorneys to finish the deal.
* * *
Kelly used her pass card to get through the gates of the ranch. Even though she’d had misgivings about coming alone, she had to clear out her father’s desk and get the rest of her clothing. She was glad Robert wouldn’t be there until later. She didn’t want to have to face him so soon and she wanted to start her new life with Alex right away.
With an empty box in her hand, she entered the house. It was eerily quiet. Where were Max and the dogs? She climbed the stairs to the attic and sat in her father’s chair, packing the items from his desk into the box.
When she heard a creak from the stairwell, Kelly tensed.
“Who’s there?” she called out, but no one answered.
After another squeak of a floorboard outside the door, her heartbeat quickened. Someone was here. Slowly, she stood.
A moment later, Robert loomed in the doorway.
“Robert, you scared me,” she cried. “You said you wouldn’t be here until this afternoon.”
His tuxedo pants and his white shirt were wrinkled, and his face was haggard as if he hadn’t slept last night. Her heart wrenched. What had she done to him?
She winced and thrust out her hand. “I brought papers. I’m signing over the company to you.”
“You spent the night with Drake. Whore.”
Her cheeks burned, but she let his remark slide. “I’m sorry for everything. I never wanted to hurt you.”
He dipped his head in exaggerated mockery and took the papers. “At least something is salvaged from your betrayal. I regret ever letting you get under my skin.”
“It won’t cover what you’re owed, but you’ll salvage some repayment for your loan, and I hope, eventually pay back the investors. I think the company is really what you want, and since you’re here . . .”
Anger simmered in his eyes. “Do you really know what I want?”
There might never be any salvaging of their relationship. She should’ve known with his controlling nature, and his perfectionist attitude, he wouldn’t take being scorned very well. Now, all she wanted was to have the business transaction over and to get the heck out of there.
When he scratched his name in bold letters, she let out a sigh. She took the papers, her gaze dropping to the first letter of his name.
Robert wrote with a curlicue at the beginning of his ‘R.’ These past weeks, she’d been looking at her father’s signature on the incriminating withdrawal slip copies from the bank—enough to know it well. The “R” in Richard Cochran—it was the same “R” on those last withdrawal slips. Her heart pounded in her ears. The “R” had been written with just a hint of such a flair. Oh, God, had Robert been the one withdrawing money? Cheating the clients—and setting up her dad?
Chapter Twenty-two
Kelly was only several feet away from Robert in the attic. Her stomach knotted with the implication he’d forged her father’s signature all those years ago. And stupidly she had trusted him. Now it all made sense. His wealth had grown enormously after their deaths, and he’d such a keen interest in helping her.
Apprehension swept through her. Was he also responsible for the deaths of her parents? Her breath caught in her throat. Jerk. Traitor. Murderer.
He stepped between her and the doorway, blocking the doorway. “What’s wrong, Kelly?”
While her heart raced, she tried to hang onto a fragile appearance of calm. She had to get away from the ranch without him suspecting what she knew. “Nothing,” she murmured, hoping the quivering in her voice didn’t give her away. “You have the company now, Robert. I’m leaving.”
“You’re not going anywhere.” He grasped her arm above the elbow in a bruising hold. “And you’re not a particularly good liar either. I can’t let you go. So my error on the signature tipped you off? I didn’t have it quite down, did I?”
Rage shot through her. “How could you have killed them? He was your best friend.”
“The best friend who stole the woman I loved.”
A sick knot formed in her stomach. “You did this because you had some kind of twisted thing for my mother?”
“Not entirely. I loved her, but also needed the money. He had it.”
She slammed her fist against his ch
est. “You bastard. No wonder you wanted to marry me. You wanted to make sure your embezzling, by forging my father’s signature, was never found out. Did you think you could hide it from me for a lifetime?”
He wrenched her arm behind her back and brought her against himself. “You little fool. I would have given you everything.”
Struggling against his hold, she rasped, “You let me go to college, thinking your generosity had helped me, when you had stolen everything from me.” She stomped his foot. “I hate you.”
“I wanted you for my wife.” He grasped the front of her blouse and with one jerk ripped it down to her waist. The buttons pinged on the floor and left her with only a lacy bra to cover herself.
Breathing hard, they stared at each other. She backed away from the hard look in his eyes.
Robert stepped toward her. “All I ever wanted was the company—and you, Kelly.” He reached out and grabbed her shoulders. “So like your mother.”
Her heart pounded with fright and she twisted in his grasp. “Don’t.”
“I have every right, my sweet fiancée. I remember a particular promise.” His fingers dug into the flesh of her shoulders, hurting her. “You said, ‘I promise to make you happy and be a good wife,’ remember?” He mimicked the words she’d told him the night they’d become engaged on the ship. “You know, if anyone found out you were in the hotel with Drake last night, I’d look like a fool.”
“I broke our engagement. I don’t owe you anything.”
He shook her until her head nearly snapped. “I should’ve killed you years ago and ran the company for your aunt. She’d never have nosed around in the books. But no, my only crime is I wanted you, too. We would’ve been happy.”
“Eventually I would’ve seen through you.”
“You believe that?” He slammed her against the wall, sending pain at the back of her head and up her spine. He put his hands on both sides of her and pinned her to the wall, his face twisting in a grotesque mask. The rage glittering in his eyes caused fear to twist like icy fingers around her heart. “I arranged for someone to tinker with the engine of your dad’s plane. I never dreamed Jane was on that plane. Foolishly, she had just reconciled with your father.”
He stroked her cheek. “But then you grew up even more beautiful than your mother. I wanted you. A true Cochran. What better way to get one up on them, than by marrying into the family? However, you were hard to convince I was anything other than an uncle. I even paid some men to be real jackasses to you, so you would turn to me.”
“Ben?”
“Your fiancé was easy. He needed the cash.”
“Alex?” She held her breath, fearful of Robert’s answer, but unable to believe it.
Backing away a bit, he laughed. “I’d love to tell you ‘yes,’ but, ‘no,’ you found that bastard on your own.”
Trembling, and knowing that he was determined to hurt her, she had to stall. “All the attacks were to frighten me and convince me to marry you?”
“But when it didn’t seem like it worked, I told David Lewis you’d be on the dive boat.”
“So knowing he hated me for thinking my father stole his money, you set him up to kill me?”
Robert shrugged. “If you didn’t marry me, I didn’t give a damn what happened to you. Lewis was supposed to kill you. When you said you’d marry me, I tried to stop you from going, but you didn’t listen.”
“What are you going to do now?”
“Why marry you, of course, but now not only will I have your signature giving me the company, I have a marriage license, signed by the Schultes, and witnessed by Vanessa. After all, she helped me all those years ago. She tried to seduce your father to have an affair and break up his marriage.”
Through numb lips, she murmured, “Vanessa?”
He nodded. “When that didn’t work, we planted evidence against him. It was overwhelming enough that your mother believed it.”
“He didn’t cheat on my mother? Why you bastard.”
Robert removed a paper from his jacket pocket. “I don’t give a damn what you think anymore. Now, sign the marriage contract. Then we’ll go off on a little honeymoon on a yacht, after which you’ll disappear.”
“No.” Kelly let the paper flutter to the floor.
She lunged toward the desk and grabbed for the pepper spray on her key chain. She turned it on him, but fumbled with the safety catch. He slapped her hand and sent the keys flying across the room.
“I can do without that.” He shoved her toward the desk. “Now, sign.”
Trembling all over, and knowing that she had to think of some way to defend herself, she signed the papers with a shaky hand, her signature barely legible. She handed him the paper, then turned, and reached into the box behind her. Her fingers touched the letter opener. She whirled and stabbed him in the neck.
With a groan, he yanked out the sharp instrument. “Damn it, Kelly.”
But it gave her enough time. Her breath came in rasps as she bolted for the stairs. His footsteps pounded right behind her. At the bottom, she flung the door in his face.
Her heart was pounding. She raced down the main curved staircase.
“Damn it, Kelly,” he shouted from the balcony above. His voice and her footsteps echoed in the stark foyer. Her heart raced as he took the stairs after her. “I won’t really hurt you.”
She glanced over her shoulder, and saw his face, an evil mask above her. She lost her footing and tumbled on the final steps. She cried out as she sprawled on the cold marble floor.
Please, God, help me. Alex—I’ll never see him again. The baby.
Hot tears fell from her eyes but still she crawled toward the front door. Her hands and knees throbbed with pain.
Robert dug his fingers into her hair and scalp and with it, yanked her to her feet.
She turned on him, kicking at him, her feet connecting to his shins. “Let me go.”
“If you’d married me, I wouldn’t be forced to hurt you. You want to make me break your neck here and now?”
The intercom buzzed.
Robert hauled her to the window.
When she recognized Alex’s car at the gate, hope momentarily welled inside her and was replaced by instant fear for his safety.
“Hell, if it isn’t your hero,” Robert sneered, his breath hot in her ear. He punched the buttons and the gate swung open. Alex drove through.
Robert unlocked the front door and then yanked her with him into the living room. He went to the desk and pulled out a gun, then sat with her on the couch. He pressed the hard metal of the gun into her back. “Keep quiet. We’ll wait here.”
The doorbell rang. Robert covered her mouth with his hand. After a moment, Kelly heard the squeak of the door opening.
She jerked her mouth free. “No, Alex, don’t come—” Robert slapped his hand over her mouth, muffling any further cries with his palm.
Alex strode into the living room. His gaze swept over her in Robert’s tight embrace. Anger flared in his eyes––until Robert pulled the gun from behind her back. Alex’s face froze with deadly understanding.
Standing, Robert jerked Kelly to her feet, waving the weapon at Alex. “Come on in. Join your going away party.”
She struggled against Robert’s firm hold. “Robert forged my father’s name to withdraw the money. He was the embezzler, all those years ago.”
“I want you to know, Drake, how much it annoyed me that you got Kelly pregnant, so you’ll be the first to die.” Robert aimed the weapon at Alex.
Her heart pounded wildly. “You see, Alex,” she said, her voice trembling, but she had to stall. “It’s important for Robert to repay my grandparents’ generosity and kindness. They treated him like a second son, but now I realize he always resented being the . . . housekeeper’s son,” she ground out the last words. “Is there any other way you can explain to me, Robert, why you would do this?”
Wrenching her arm, he snapped, “Don’t you ever call me that.”
Alex gla
red at Robert. “Bloody hell, do you actually think you can get away with killing us? Put the gun down.”
Robert choked out a bitter laugh. “Who will question me? Oh, I admit, I’ll have trouble getting rid of your bodies, but the ranch has a lot of ground.”
A shudder ran up Kelly’s spine. She hadn’t told anyone she was coming to the ranch, except for what she wrote in the note to Alex. No one would miss her as Aunt Kaye would think she’d left with him, and that would give Robert plenty of time to clear his tracks.
“There will be evidence you killed us in this house,” Alex said.
Robert snorted. “I’ll burn down the evidence.”
Alex narrowed his eyes. “I knew he never loved you, Kelly.”
Robert tightened his hold on her arm. “That’s a lie. And damn you for interfering, Drake.”
“Robert, put the gun down,” she pleaded. “Don’t.”
His sarcastic laughter echoed in the room. “No way, honey?” He thrust the gun closer to Alex. “There’s only one way out for me. By killing you both.”
Alex stepped back. “If we’re missing, you’ll be suspected. Last night, I gave it out to some of your guests that Kelly and I are getting married.”
“You lying son of a bitch.” Robert’s face contorted with anger, and he cocked the trigger.
Alex backed away, putting his hands up. “I did give it out.”
Kelly threw herself against Robert.
He shoved her aside and fired three times. Each one hit Alex in the chest. Alex’s eyes glazed over and he crumpled to the floor.
“Alex!” she screamed through a haze of tears.
When she tried to go to him, Robert wrenched her arm. She tore into him, hitting him. “I hate you.” She clawed at his face as tears streamed in rivulets down her cheeks. “You killed everyone I’ve ever loved.”
He set the gun down, then grabbed her and clamped his hands against the sides of her face. “And I’ll finish with you. Something I should’ve done years ago. How easy to just snap your neck. Quick and painless.”
Dangerous Paradise Page 33