It wasn’t a shocker Kauffman was here. He and Rafe were tight as brothers. What was a shocker, though, was the fact all that resentment Shane had built up for Kauffman over what had happened to Hailey no longer seemed important.
Moments later, Hailey stepped out of the room, and though there were tear tracks on her cheeks, she didn’t break down, didn’t reach for him. Didn’t even look his way. She said a quick hello to Pete and Kat, then announced she needed some fresh air before turning and striding away from Shane down the hall.
If he’d been thinking, he’d have given her space. But that connection they’d shared in Teresa’s hospital room had done something to him. And he followed without a second thought.
She made it as far as the wide, tall windows that looked down to the parking lot before breaking down. He caught her just as her knees crumpled and pulled her tight against his chest. “Let it out.”
Her hands clenched into fists against his chest, and her face dropped to his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around her and held her close while she cried. And wasn’t it strange that normally a hysterical woman made him want to run for the hills, but this one? This one he couldn’t seem to get enough of no matter the situation.
He didn’t talk, just rubbed her back and held her while she worked through her emotions. And he knew when she finally had because she went still in his arms.
“I hate that you’ve seen me like this.”
There was the feisty woman he remembered. Her voice was muffled. And so damn sexy, all rough and spent from the past few days, it made him think of holding her like this in his bed. Naked. Just the two of them.
“Like what?
“Like this. A blubbering mess.” When she pushed back, wiped her cheeks and waved her hands, he realized she’d pulled up her temper. But that was okay. If this was what she needed to do to work through losing Teresa, he’d argue with her all she wanted. “I’m so not that woman. The kind who cries and gets sick and needs someone to take care of her. Teresa was just plain wrong. You know that’s not me.”
“I know exactly who you are, Hailey.” Her mouth snapped shut when he stepped close and ran his thumb over her cheek to wipe back a tear.
Yeah, he realized as he caressed her soft skin. Over the last few days she’d definitely thawed him out. To the point where he was actually starting to feel again. To think about the future. About what it could be like. With her in it. But would it be enough to make up for what he’d done?
He dropped his hand and fought the urge to kiss. her “Do you want to stay here?”
Slowly, she shook her head. “I want to go find my father’s letter.”
So did he. So they could wrap this up. And maybe then he could figure out what he was going to do about Hailey Roarke.
Nicole tossed her magazine on the coffee table in the lobby of the hospital. Pursed her lips and tapped her toe against the carpet. What was taking so long? She glanced at her watch. She’d been sitting here for nearly two hours. Were they just going to leave her down here all night?
Frustration growing, she headed for the Coke machine she’d seen down one of these corridors earlier. The elevator opened and Billy walked out.
She stilled. Caught her breath. Then wished she’d been ten seconds earlier and nowhere to be seen. He looked like hell, eyes all red, hand shaking as he rubbed his forehead. Though he was alone, one look told her everything she needed to know about what had happened upstairs.
“We’re going,” he barked without looking at her face.
She fell in line next to him not because he’d ordered, but because…hell, she wasn’t even sure why anymore. “What about Shane and Hailey?”
“They left an hour ago.”
They had? She hadn’t seen them. But then there had to be numerous entrances and exits in this place.
“Get in,” he said when they reached the car. He didn’t hold her door for her like he had earlier in the day, didn’t give any indication he even wanted her there. Just snarled at her and turned over the engine, then glared off into space.
And she knew she had a choice, right then. Walk away from him and all this for good or…not. Quietly, she climbed in, closed the door and clicked her seat belt.
He drove faster than she liked, weaving through the streets of San Juan while “Maria, Maria” blared out of the radio. She didn’t bother asking him where they were headed, but she wondered. Especially when the early evening lights of the city turned to darkness and a sea of green.
Forty minutes later he pulled to a stop in front of a rundown shack. The jungle was thick here, large palm fronds and trees she didn’t know how to identify hiding parts of the dilapidated building. Without a word, he got out of the car and disappeared behind the cabin.
She stayed, taking in the unwelcoming environment. Then figured enough was enough and went to look for him. She heard water running, like from a river or stream, and smelled damp earth and moss. As she pushed her way through vines that snared her arms and legs, she cursed under her breath at the fact it was humid as hell and she was sweating—not to mention ruining her good shoes—then stumbled when the foliage opened up and she found herself standing on the edge of a cliff that seemed to drop at least a quarter mile straight down.
Her breath caught. The wind danced lazily across her skin, birds screeched far below, and the sky was so close she thought she could touch it. In the distance, a mountain range rose, the peaks covered with clouds.
But the view didn’t capture her attention. The man standing dangerously close to the edge with his hands shoved deep into the pockets of his jeans, his eyes staring straight down, was all she could see.
He wasn’t planning to jump, was he? Her mind spun as she searched for something she could say to talk him back from the ledge. And came up with only one thing she knew he’d be interested in.
“Three.” When Billy didn’t bother to look her way, she added, “That’s the number on the bottom of my mother’s bronze. Well, oh-three.”
He still didn’t turn to face her, which she figured couldn’t be a good sign. She glanced from him to the ledge he’d inched closer to as her anxiety shot up a notch.
“I saw it last spring, hidden in the back of her closet. I’d gone in there to pilfer a pair of shoes because…well, I knew it would tick her off.” She waved her hand even though he still hadn’t looked at her. “That part’s not important. What is important is the fact it’s gone now. I went looking for it when I was home a few days ago. And when I asked Matilda where she’d put it, the housekeeper said my mother had gotten rid of it. We had a little ‘tiff’ as my mother calls it, because I wouldn’t give her mine. I haven’t talked to her since.”
When even that didn’t get a response, she eased down to sit on a large boulder, but her muscles were tensed and ready in case she had to lunge and pull him back.
Her heart beat like wildfire when she said, “She doesn’t think too highly of me, my mother. The only consolation is she doesn’t think highly of Hailey, either.”
And boy, didn’t that make her sound like a bitter Jan Brady? Way to go, Nicole.
She blew out a breath. Wished he’d look at her or say something, and when he did neither, figured she’d just keep on going. “You asked me why I hate Hailey? I don’t. Not really. I mean, not in the way you think. It’s just…” She shrugged. “Nothing breaks her. I was the one my mother favored. I was the one who got away with everything. Daddy…he tried. Early on I remember him stepping in and intervening on our behalf with our mother, but she never backed down. And after a while, he just kinda stopped. But Hailey…”
Her voice trailed off as she thought about the numerous battles Hailey and Eleanor had had over the years. About Garrett’s repeated attempts to draw Hailey into RR and their mother sloughing the idea off. Hailey had never wanted to work for Roarke Resorts on principle. No one had bothered to ask Nicole.
“If anything,” Nicole said quietly, “it made her tougher. She doesn’t need anybody. Not like me.”<
br />
“Why are you telling me all this?” His harsh voice brought her eyes up from the ledge she’d been studying as memories ran through her mind. But he didn’t look at her. He was still staring off into the ravine below.
“I don’t know. I guess maybe because halfway up this mountain I realized if you were planning to kill me and bury my body in the rain forest somewhere, there aren’t many people who’d miss me.”
He finally turned and focused on her, his hands shoved deep into his pockets, his foot mere centimeters from the edge of the cliff. That strong jaw of his flexed beneath a day’s worth of stubble, and though there was still anger and pain in his eyes from losing his mother, there was something else, too. A hint of something soft that shored up her courage and made her go on, even though part of her knew it was a really dumb idea. “Sisters should miss each other, don’t you think?”
“You have a long way to go to convince Hailey of that.”
She sure did, didn’t she? “I can help by giving her the numbers.”
“You don’t want them for yourself?”
Did she? She looked out across the valley and thought about her family, Hailey, everything Billy had just lost. Was her need to prove her worth to Eleanor Roarke really that important in the grand scheme of life? She shook her head. “I wouldn’t know what to do with them. I’m not Hailey.”
He glanced across the rolling hills to the blue-green mountains beyond. “The native Taíno people believed the good spirit Yuquiyu reigned from the mountaintop throne of El Yunque over there.” Her gaze drifted to the mountain off in the distance. “Do you believe in spirits, Nicole?”
She knew he was talking about his mother, and the tender spot in her chest that had started as a pinprick the night they’d spent in her hotel suite grew by leaps and bounds. She’d felt it expand at the racetrack, even when he’d been so mad at her he couldn’t seem to see straight. Felt it even more now as a lost look crept into his eyes.
“I believe there’s a lot I don’t know,” she said softly. “And after everything that’s happened today, I’m not ruling anything out.”
He looked down. Toed the soil near the ledge of the cliff. Rocks and dirt broke free and bounced down the embank ment, picking up speed until nothing was left but a soft thud echoing up from far below.
She tensed. And just when she was sure he was going to tell her he did believe in spirits, then step off that ledge, he eased back, turned and walked toward her. The relief that pulsed through her entire body was as sweet as wine.
He stopped when they were toe to toe. “Stand up.”
She did, slowly, as her eyes ran over his square jaw, up to his hazel eyes and light brown hair so different from his brother’s.
“I don’t like lies,” he said. “And I won’t put up with half-truths.”
“I…I can do honest.”
“I’m not so sure. You’ve been scheming so long, I don’t even know if you can handle honest.”
“I can try.”
He stared at her until her skin tingled. And just when she was sure he wasn’t going to say anything else, he said, “This is my uncle’s land. I come up here when I need to be alone.”
“You stay here? By yourself?”
“Sometimes.” He tipped his head. “Do you like being alone, Nicole?”
Her heart pounded against her ribs. He didn’t touch her, didn’t take his hands out of his pockets or move any closer. But there was something in his eyes. Something sad and broken and lost and yearning. Something a lot like what she’d been feeling most of her adult life. Something…that told her the answer she gave right now would change everything between them.
“No,” she said softly as she pulled up her courage. “I don’t want to be alone anymore.”
“Neither do I,” he whispered.
He leaned down to brush his mouth over hers. Then wrapped his arms around her and finally, finally kissed her with the sweetest mouth she’d ever tasted.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Hailey couldn’t sleep.
She threw back the covers on the guest bed in Rafe and Lisa’s monster house and pulled on her clothes. The letter she and Shane had found in Teresa’s jewelry box hadn’t answered any of her questions. It was just more garbled clues about keys and locked treasures, and at the moment she was so frustrated with her father and everything else, she couldn’t stay still.
She pulled open the door as quietly as she could and tiptoed down the old hardwood floors until she reached the stairs. The top step creaked, and she paused, hoping she wasn’t waking the entire house.
The old plantation-style colonial was way bigger than either Rafe or Lisa needed, but since they were still in the process of getting the San Juan branch of Odyssey up and running, they were using some rooms for storage. They’d also moved Teresa here from the small bungalow Rafe had bought for her in the city, and the fact she wasn’t here left a giant void in the house that Hailey could feel all the way into her bones.
Tears pushed at her eyes again at the thought of Teresa, but she forced them back and continued down the stairs. She’d mourn later. After she figured out her father’s blasted riddle and cleared her name. Until then, she couldn’t let herself get sucked down into the pain. Teresa would never have wanted that for her anyway.
The oversize kitchen was dark when she stepped into the room. She felt for the light switch.
“Carajo,“ Rafe exclaimed as the fluorescent bulb above popped on. “Have some mercy here.”
Hailey jumped, looked toward the old butcher-block table where he was sitting with a coffee cup in front of him, rubbing his eyes. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know anyone was in here. I’ll turn the light off.”
“Don’t bother now. You already blinded me.”
Though his snarky comeback shouldn’t have made her smile, it did. Because this, at least, was normal.
“There’s coffee if you want it,” he mumbled, still rubbing his eyes.
Since it was two A.M., and she knew she wasn’t getting any more sleep, she figured Why not? “Thanks.”
She found a mug in the cupboard and poured herself a cup, then came back to the table to sit beside him. He looked like death warmed over, and he’d lost weight since she’d seen him a few weeks ago. “Is Lisa sleeping?”
“Yeah.” He eased back in his chair. “We’ve been at the hospital pretty much every day this week.”
That ache filled her chest again, along with the feeling she should have been here rather than off in Chicago chasing treasure. “I’m so sorry, Rafe.”
“Yeah. Well…”
He stared at his mug. Then finally those dark eyes of his lifted to her face, and she realized, in that moment, marrying him had not been a mistake. She’d loved him—still loved him—just not in the way either of them needed. Teresa was right: they were family. In one of those twisted ways most people wouldn’t understand. In a way that meant more to her than any of her Roarke blood relatives, save Graham.
“So that cop,” Rafe said. “You gonna tell me what the deal is there?”
She almost laughed. Yep, this was the man she knew so well. Always sticking his nose where it didn’t belong, looking out for her more like a big brother than an ex-husband. “There is no deal. He’s just helping me.”
“Looks to me like he’s doing more than just helping. How the heck did you run into him anyway?”
“He came to question me about Bryan’s murder.” He nodded in a way that made her flick him a look. “It’s not what you think.”
“What do I think?”
“That there’s something going on between us. There isn’t. I mean…” She looked into her coffee because even she knew her protest sounded stupid. What the hell was going on between her and Shane? She rose to get more java. “I don’t know what to tell you.”
Rafe snickered as he lifted his mug to his lips.
“I thought I heard a party going on in here,” Lisa said from the doorway. Her short red hair was tousled, and she wore cot
ton capri sleep pants and a baggy T-shirt. She kissed Rafe on the top of his head as she walked by, then reached for a mug from the cupboard.
Hailey made room at the counter. “Hope we didn’t wake you.”
“No.” Lisa poured coffee into her mug. “Couldn’t sleep.”
“She can’t sleep without me,” Rafe said. “Isn’t that right, querida?“
Lisa frowned and took her mug to the chair on Rafe’s other side. “Damn irritating is what I call it,” she mumbled.
A smile spread across Rafe’s face as he reached for Lisa’s hand on the table. One that told Hailey, yeah, he was hurting now, and it would take a long time for him to heal, but he’d be okay.
Lisa set her mug down. “So Shane told me what happened at your uncle’s place in the Everglades.”
“What happened in the Everglades?” Rafe asked, suddenly serious.
Oh, man, now there was a story she didn’t want to repeat to this man. She already had one overprotective alpha male watching her every move. She did not need two.
When Hailey avoided the question by picking up her coffee and taking a long drink, Lisa dove into the story. Starting with their car going into the slough and ending with her little poisoning scare.
That tired look was gone from Rafe’s dark eyes when his attention focused on Hailey. “Okay. You’re not leaving this house.”
Hailey rolled her eyes and headed for the refrigerator, looking for something to keep her hands busy. “As if that’s gonna stop me. Lisa, do you guys have eggs?”
“Yeah, all the way in the back.” Lisa pushed back from the table and joined Hailey at the fridge. “I think there’s even some bacon in the freezer.”
Rafe turned in his chair. “Stop avoiding the topic.”
“What topic?” Pete asked from the doorway, his messy blond hair matted on one side.
“I’ll make more coffee,” Lisa announced, turning for the pot.
“Did we wake you?” Hailey asked as she set breakfast makings on the counter.
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