“The cavalry.” Forget panic. Other than the rain finally stopping, this was the first good news they’d had in days.
“Your team?”
The hope in her eyes nearly did Joel in. “Yeah.”
The helicopter kicked up wind, and the noise drowned out all other sounds. The trees around the open space swayed and the grass flattened. It felt like forever before it touched down and the propellers slowed.
Joel took one step into the clearing and held up a hand. After a few more minutes, the helicopter wound down.
Connor leaned out and yelled. “What’s wrong?”
Joel appreciated the boss’s caution. “We just took fire. Could be a rigged weapon.”
Connor nodded and then moved back inside for a second. When he came out it was with guns up and two men helping. Joel recognized one—Corcoran’s second in command, Davis Weeks, a man Joel would serve beside and trust with Hope’s safety any day.
When they ran across the area without another shot being fired, Joel figured it was safe. He met Connor with a handshake about ten feet from the edge of the clearing. “About time you got here.”
“I had to break about a dozen laws and ignore the screaming from the guy at a nearby airport and a police chief to get here.” Connor hitched his thumb in the other guy’s direction. “Davis came along to fly the plane and we picked up a ranger.”
Joel knew they could all fly but didn’t question the extra man. Only issue was getting them all out, but that was Connor’s problem. “Thanks for that. Both of you.”
Connor slid his gun back into the holster. “I almost hate to ask, but who’s in the bag?”
“Better yet, who’s the woman?” Davis asked.
“Perry, one of the Baxter executives.” Joel motioned for the rest of the group to join them. “And this is Hope Algier.”
Davis smiled at Joel. “Her father is not happy with you.”
“He’s the one who sent me out here.”
“We’ll talk about how you spend your vacations later.” Connor walked past Joel to welcome the group.
Davis leaned in. “And we’ll definitely talk about the woman.”
Chapter Twelve
Hope barely made it to her town house that night before falling over. She’d gotten to know Connor and Davis as they kept up a steady stream of mindless chatter on the helicopter ride out of the forest. They talked about a debriefing but gave her a day’s reprieve on having to sit through it. Apparently she had paperwork to fill out and questions to answer.
They promised they’d take care of the inevitable search for Mark and investigation into Perry’s death. She was grateful, but there was so much information to take in. It all welled up until it threatened to choke her.
At one point she had to concentrate on her breathing to keep from putting her head between her knees to calm down. And she wasn’t the scare-easily type.
She always held it together. Or she had done so until her life fell apart in the double whammy of losing Joel and losing her climbing guide career.
Back at the airport hangar, when Joel had announced the coordinates she’d marked off in the forest and suggested it could be a grave site—presumably Mark’s—her stomach had dipped. She’d known what he thought when they were out there. Hearing the stark truth as he delivered the news to his colleagues sliced through her.
When the cavernous room had started to spin away from her, Joel had held her hand and told her everything would be fine. But it was Davis with his photos of his pregnant wife that took her mind off all the death.
The big man seemed to be totally in love. He grinned as he pointed and his voice picked up with excitement. Hope found his happiness contagious.
The talk also filled her with a strange sadness. A longing for what she feared she’d never have. She couldn’t exactly move on and start a new life when she was still stuck in the old one. The main part of which was rummaging around in her kitchen right now.
“I take it you’re staying here tonight?” she asked as she sat down across from him.
Joel froze with his hand on the open refrigerator door. “I don’t want to drive back to Annapolis.”
Never mind that the rest of his team found somewhere to sleep in the DC area. He hadn’t even asked. Just drove her to the town house and settled in.
Truth was he was here and she wasn’t about to kick him out. Didn’t even want to try. “Fair enough.”
He shut the door and came around the kitchen island to where she sat on a high barstool. Her bare feet dangled off the footrest. She’d showered and changed into clean clothes, consisting of a thin T-shirt, which had his gaze skipping to her breasts every few seconds, and plaid boxer shorts.
She’d chosen the outfit on purpose. To entice him. Some men loved to see women in tight skirts or sexy lingerie. Joel preferred the fresh, down-home look. Put on something he could tunnel his hands under, maybe no underwear and just a hint of the bare skin beneath, and he lost his cool. Happened every time.
She wasn’t the only one who showered. So had he, but he’d used her downstairs bathroom instead of the one in her bedroom upstairs.
The restraint surprised her. She had half expected him to pull back the curtain and step in with her. Not that she would have objected, though the dressed version was pretty nice and smelled pretty good, too.
Damp hair, faded jeans and a white tee that slipped over him like a second skin. Looked like he also knew how to entice.
Right now he did it by stepping into the space between her legs. He didn’t touch her. Didn’t have to. The place was small enough for her to feel his presence in every room, even though he hadn’t lived there in months.
The end unit had two bedrooms and a small office. The entire place could fit into the guesthouse at her father’s place, but the size was perfect for her. She liked cozy and her oversize sectional sofa that dwarfed the rest of the family room. The shelves loaded with books and the collection of mismatched coffee mugs she collected from her travels.
Her dad liked shiny knickknacks and marble floors. He had money and enjoyed spending it. She didn’t begrudge him the wealth or the power. It didn’t define him. Certainly didn’t say anything about him as a dad, and he was a good one. Overprotective with a tendency to butt in, but his heart was in the right place. He wanted her happy and insisted Joel was the man for her.
She didn’t disagree.
Joel stood in front of her now and slid his palms up her shorts, skimming his fingers underneath to touch bare skin. “Do you want me to leave?”
There was no reason to play games. They loved each other and hurt each other. It was a vicious cycle, but one she couldn’t break. “No.”
“Is it too forward to say I have condoms in my duffel bag?” He kissed her cheek, then his mouth traveled to her ear.
She tilted her head to give him greater access. The man could kiss, and when he kissed her there her body trembled with excitement.
Her hands came up and she held on to his upper arms for balance. “More wishful thinking?”
“Just good planning.” He said the comment and it vibrated against her skin.
Her eyes, already half closed, popped open again. She pulled back, almost breaking contact, and stared at him. “I don’t get it.”
“Davis put them in there when he packed the bag.”
The married man with a pregnant wife was carrying condoms? “I don’t know what to say to that.”
“They were totally for my benefit. He got the briefing on you.”
The conversation was sucking some of the life out of the seduction scene. “Meaning?”
Instead of answering, Joel dipped his head and kissed her, and the seduction was back on. The rush of longing hit her so hard she would have fallen off the stool if his hands weren’t on her hips.
Even with the adrenaline and danger gone, she still craved him. The feelings kicked into high gear when she’d convinced herself they’d fade.
When he lifted his head, she t
raced a finger over his bottom lip. “Nice.”
“He knows...they all do now, my whole team...” Joel kissed her nose. “...what you mean to me.”
Her heart flipped. Actually felt as if it had torn loose and performed a perfect somersault. “Which is?”
“Everything.”
And that was it. The doubt fled and the need for self-preservation wavered. He had given her the words that broke open the gates and made her want to try again.
She knew in her soul he believed them, felt them. She hoped he’d follow through this time, but reality nipped at her on that one.
But none of the “what ifs” and “what about tomorrows” mattered right then. His fingers brushed the insides of her legs to her upper thighs, and his hot mouth pressed against hers. She wanted him—over her, with her, inside her.
“Come upstairs with me.” She whispered the plea against his mouth.
The kiss deepened and the room spun. One minute she was on the barstool and the next he stood with her body wrapped around his.
She linked her ankles and let her legs ride low on his hips. His erection pressed against her, and his deep breathing filled her head. When he walked, taking them across the room, the movement barely registered.
Somehow he got them to the couch. He stood hovering over it, without ever breaking the contact of their mouths or stilling his hands as they traveled all over her back.
When he sat down, her knees pressed into the couch cushions on either side of his hips. Her fingers went into his hair as his hands slipped under her shirt and up her back.
“I’m happy you were at camp.” Her lips pressed against his throat.
His head tipped back. “I hated the idea of you out there without me.”
“It’s my job.”
He cupped her cheeks with his palms and looked deep into her eyes. “I want you safe.”
Her hand trailed down his flat stomach to his lap. She could feel the heat pounding off him and into her. His erection pressed against the notch between her legs and he kept shifting, driving in closer.
When he moved again, she unbuttoned his jeans. He hadn’t bothered with a belt and as she lowered the zipper, she knew he hadn’t put on underwear either. How very practical of him.
Her hand slid over him, and her mouth brushed over his. “Take me to bed.”
Hands clenched against her outer thighs. “I thought you’d never ask.”
* * *
IT WAS AFTER nine as Tony walked to the head of the conference room table and sat down. His men had experienced days of difficulty and hardship. Their numbers had been shaved from four to two. They wore the horror of the experience on their faces. Both Jeff and Lance were pale and drawn. Neither gave Tony eye contact.
He suspected they wanted to go home and forget everything that had happened. He couldn’t exactly blame them. He wanted to erase the past few days from his memory, too.
On his orders, both had been checked out at the hospital at length. Despite the ordeal, they were healthy physically. But he wanted to assess the emotional part. He also needed to know what they knew.
Everyone wanted to interview them, from the police to the park rangers to Connor to the press. Tony wanted to secure them and lock them away, but he knew that wasn’t practical. As it was, he had managed to buy a little time, citing their raw state. But the clock was ticking.
He knew he’d lose the battle when it came to Connor. The man appeared to take the lead on the entire investigation, and no one in the police department or any federal agency objected or tried to push the man aside. He walked in and they stepped back.
As suspected, Connor and his team were trouble. Hope and this guy Joel were the worst. Their names kept coming up, so Tony placed the blame for his pounding headache and the twisting in his gut solely on them.
But he had to deal with that later. Right now he had more bad news to deliver. The kind of news that broke men, or at least started them on a vigilante crusade. Tony didn’t want any part of either of those things. He needed these two healthy and indebted to him. Supporting him.
“After they got you out, search and rescue found a body in the woods.” The news, though expected, still had stunned Tony when Connor called to tell him.
With everything that had gone wrong, this part had gone as planned.
Jeff slumped forward, balancing his elbows on the table. “What?”
“Mark.”
Lance shook his head. “Did Perry do it?”
“We think so.” Or that was the story that worked best for this new scenario Tony had concocted.
Mark was supposed to have an accident. Walk off into the woods and fall off a mountainside or fall and hit his head. The fact that he was buried under a pile of leaves made that tough to sell.
“Perry wouldn’t hurt Mark.” Jeff looked to Lance. “Right?”
Last thing Tony needed was these two teaming up and exchanging stories. “You need to know the rest. After you left camp, I discovered some financial irregularities.”
Jeff dipped even lower in his chair. “What does that mean?”
“It looks like Mark was inflating his numbers to make the new division look like it was performing better than it was.” The evidence now supported the claims. Notes and files, all backdated and slipped into computer backups using earlier dates. It paid to have a staff of tech experts who passed on their expertise. Tony had learned a thing or two over the years.
“That explains the information I collected,” Jeff said.
Tony forced his expression to stay neutral. “What are you talking about?”
“Inconsistent performance in one of our divisions, the newest. I thought it might be an aberration but wanted to get at the issue in case the dip in productivity and revenue was a signal of things to come.”
“You didn’t come to me with this?” Tony couldn’t keep the menace out of his voice. He knew that when Lance glanced up and his eyes narrowed.
“I talked with Mark about marketing strategies we could use to stabilize the numbers.” Jeff frowned. “I thought he had talked about that with you.”
That answered that question. Tony worried Mark had shared the information he compiled with other members of the staff. Looked like Jeff was the source and went to Mark, who listened to the concerns but didn’t play his own hand or express his suspicions about what was going on. Mark ran to Tony, never mentioning Jeff, and everything rolled downhill from there.
The poor decision-making by Mark to take credit for Jeff’s findings and keep the matter quiet made it easier for Tony to lay the trail. He placed a few more tracks now. “The real problem is the reason behind the instability.”
Lance stopped tapping his hand against the table long enough to stare. “What do you mean?”
“It looks as if Mark had created a pretty elaborate scheme. He set up false client accounts and funneled money into them. The initial moving of money showed up as a down quarter in performance when, really, he was pocketing portions of money we received. He tried to cover everything up with inflated numbers after the fact, making it look as if he’d saved the division, but it was too late.” When Tony realized he was swiveling his chair back and forth, he stopped. He needed calm and reassurance right now. The nerves rattling inside him couldn’t show.
Lance shook his head. “That can’t be right.”
“I’m afraid it is.” Tony rushed to dispel any thoughts of questioning him. “The only logical explanation is Perry found out and paid for his loyalty to this company with his life.”
“I can’t believe this,” Jeff said.
“You’re lucky it wasn’t you. My guess is you were next.” Tony thought back to the last document he had created. “I guess that explains why he sent me the memo asking for the corporate retreat. To get all of you out there and provide cover as he hid his hand in this.”
“But then who killed Mark?” Lance flattened his hand against the table and leaned forward as he talked.
He still wore the sl
ing from the injury he’d sustained in the woods. Something about a sniper or a rigged gun. Tony didn’t know about any of that but planned to find out.
Tony shrugged. “My guess is Perry.”
That was the new plan—implicate both men. Invent a scenario where they turned on each other. Mark lost in his lying and Perry trying to get at the truth. It played well, and Tony found it easier than continuing to hide the losses.
He could spin this into betrayal and vow to fix the corporate tendency that led to it. Overhaul the whole reporting process and means of calculating overhead.
In the end, the ruse could streamline the company and preserve the bottom line. And that would secure his position and the bonuses he needed.
But Lance didn’t appear to be buying the story. The lowest man on the corporate leadership ladder kept shaking his head, skepticism apparent on his face. “This is going round in circles.”
“The important thing is we’re back on track.” The man would need convincing, and Tony vowed to do just that. But not today. They all needed to stand down and get some breathing room on this. Tony also needed to handle Connor and the Corcoran Team, which looked like it could be a full-time job. “These men’s families deserve to believe in them. We’ll walk a careful line, clean this up and move on.”
“The board is in agreement with that strategy?” Jeff asked.
“We’ll work it out. Everything will be legal and transparent, but respectful to the dead.” As soon as he had a report to present Tony would start that process.
The board, reeling from the loss of two executives, wasn’t pressuring him for anything other than answers about their deaths. The financial issue wasn’t on their radar. He’d put it there but in his own way. The way he needed it to look.
“In the meantime, you two should take a week. To the extent you need any assistance in terms of counseling or additional medical issues, Baxter will, of course, cover everything.”
“Thanks,” Jeff said, but Lance stayed quiet.
They’d all had enough for one night, and the next few days would be rough. There were funerals to plan and a story to spin out. “Now go home.”
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