Beside Pete, Kat yawned. “No. The mix-master in my bed woke me.”
Pete grinned in that lazy way of his and wrapped an arm around Kat’s shoulder. “Usually you like it when I wake you in the middle of the night.”
Kat rolled her eyes. Hailey and Lisa chuckled.
“So what topic are we avoiding?” Pete asked, finding an open chair at the table and dropping into it.
“Hailey and Shane,” Lisa said.
“Poisonings, murder and car chases,” Rafe huffed.
“’Kay, wait.” Pete held up a hand. “The heiress and the cop are finally getting it on. I picked up on that. But you’re going to have to repeat that last part.”
Kat’s brows lifted. “Wow. No one around here does anything normal, do they?”
Hailey rubbed her suddenly throbbing head and turned toward Lisa. “I think I need alcohol.”
Lisa grinned. “I’m pretty sure we have all the makings for screwdrivers in here somewhere.”
Oh, now wasn’t that appropriate?
While Lisa and Rafe filled Pete and Kat in on the drama surrounding Hailey and her father’s will, Hailey played bartender. Rafe took his mug to the sink and started in on breakfast, cracking eggs into a bowl and whipping them up for his famous omelets. The kitchen was a buzz of activity, voices chattering, plates and glasses clinking. It was like every other get-together they’d had over the years, so long as you overlooked the fact it was two A.M. and the reason they were all here was because they’d lost someone they loved.
The kitchen door opened with a clank, and Billy came in, dressed in the same clothes he’d worn that day. Though the rest of them had all gotten some kind of sleep, the dark circles under his eyes and his sallow skin confirmed he hadn’t slowed down since leaving the hospital. Conversation quieted as he stepped into the room. Especially when he pulled an exhausted Nicole in after him.
Hailey’s gaze flicked from Billy to Nicole, then over to Rafe. And she didn’t miss the flash of temper in Rafe’s eyes.
Rafe’s attention returned to the stove, where he flipped an omelet. But his jaw clenched and unclenched in that controlled way of his that said he was good and truly ticked. “Wondered when we’d see you again.”
The brothers’ tumultuous relationship was nothing new, but Hailey had thought the two had turned a corner when they’d brought Teresa to Puerto Rico several months ago. They’d seemed to be getting along and working together, until the last month or so when Billy had lit back to Miami to pick up his old life, working for Pete at Odyssey now and then and doing freelance security work that was 10,000 levels beneath that Nobel Prize brain of his.
Billy closed the kitchen door with one hand but kept the other wrapped tightly around Nicole’s. “We’ve been at Marc and Michaela’s house.”
Rafe glanced over at the mention of his aunt and uncle, Teresa’s younger brother and wife who lived in San Juan. “What were you doing there?”
Billy shrugged. “Planning. Mamá wanted to have a wake, just like we did for Dad when he died. I want to make sure we do it right.”
Rafe flipped off the fire. His brows drew together in a way that said this obviously wasn’t where he’d expected Billy to run off for after leaving the hospital. “I would have gone with you. If you’d waited—”
“Rafe,” Billy cut in. “You got a houseful of people here. And besides. I want to do this. You’ve been handling everything up until now. I think it’s way past time I stepped in and did my share.” When Rafe’s mouth dropped open in protest, he added, “Let me take care of this. For Mamá. It doesn’t make up for any of the other crap I’ve done, but it’s a start.”
You could have knocked Rafe over with a fingertip, that’s how shocked he looked. The room was silent as everyone listened. Luckily, Lisa had the faculties to break the silence and step forward to hug Billy. “I think that is the best gift you can give her, Billy. She’d love that.”
“Thanks, Lisa.”
That seemed to break the spell Rafe was under, and without hesitation, he moved forward to hug Billy as well. Conversation picked back up in the kitchen, the tense weight of Billy’s arrival lifting like a cloud being swept away. And as tears burned Hailey’s eyes again, she knew yep, these guys were family. And she wouldn’t change it if she could.
Realizing Rafe had left the eggs cooking on the stove, Hailey moved to transfer them to a plate.
“What’s going on in here?”
She turned quickly at the sound of Shane’s deep voice and looked up to find him standing closer than she’d expected. His hair was rumpled, his jaw stubbled, his feet bare. In a light blue T-shirt and faded jeans, he looked sexy and dangerous and way too much like the comfort she needed right this minute.
She squeezed between Pete and Kat, set the first omelet on the table along with a handful of forks, then returned to the counter to grab a rag to wipe her hands. “Well, let’s see. Billy and Rafe just had a moment. We’re eating breakfast because no one can sleep. Screwdrivers are in the pitcher over there, and I don’t have a clue what’s going on with Nicole. What are you up to?”
“Tony left a message on my cell. Said he had some info for us.”
Okay, well, if that wasn’t a buzzkill, nothing was. Not for the first time, Hailey wished he hadn’t picked up a replacement phone in Marathon, though part of her was dying to know what was happening in Chicago. “Did he elaborate?”
“Not yet. Said he’d call back.”
Since there was no sense stressing over what she couldn’t foretell, Hailey reached for a glass. “Do you want—”
A piece of paper was shoved in her face. Hailey turned, only to see Nicole handing her a note. “Here. This is both of them. Mine and Mother’s.”
Glass forgotten, Hailey hesitantly took the slip of paper from her sister. She was aware of Shane’s rapt attention at her side as she opened the paper to peer at the numbers inside. “You’re giving them to me, just like that?”
Nicole shrugged. “They’re just numbers.”
Conversation in the kitchen died down once again, only this time she and Nicole were the center of attention. “Why now? I don’t under—”
“Look, it’s no big deal, okay? I mean, if you don’t want them—”
For whatever reason, Hailey realized her sister was offering her a gift. And when she saw the way Nicole shot a nervous look at Billy, and the sappy, stupid expression on Billy’s face while he watched Nicole from across the room, Hailey knew something monumental had happened here tonight. “I didn’t say that. I just…”
“Yeah, well,” Nicole said, crossing her arms over her chest, looking increasingly uncomfortable with the conversation. “I only physically have the one statue. I put mine in my safety-deposit box after Bryan was killed, just in case.”
“I don’t need the actual statues,” Hailey said. “Just the numbers.”
“That’s good because I’m petty sure Mother destroyed hers. You know she never liked that thing. She only hung on to it because Daddy gave it to her and wouldn’t let her get rid of it. She was more than interested in getting mine, though, after the will reading.” Nicole glanced at the note. “Oh, and that third number is from Graham’s bronze.”
Hailey’s brows drew together. “How did you get Graham’s?”
“I went to see him.”
“When?” Shane asked at Hailey’s side.
“A couple of days ago. The day before Billy and I saw you at the racetrack.”
“Did you call him ahead of time?” Shane asked. “Did he know you were coming?”
Nicole’s brow wrinkled. “Yeah, I called him from Mother’s. I wasn’t just gonna surprise him. He’s got a heart condition, you know.”
Shane’s gaze flicked to Hailey. “The tea could have been targeted for her. If he knew she was looking for the bronzes on her own—”
“That’s quite a stretch, Maxwell,” Hailey started, even as her stomach tightened. She still didn’t believe Graham could do such a thing. To family, no
less.
Nicole’s confused gaze flicked between them. “Look, I don’t know what you two are talking about but as far as the numbers go, I only have three. I still don’t have Bryan’s—”
“I do,” Hailey said, turning back to her sister. And with Bryan’s number that made five out of six. They were so close she could almost taste it.
She didn’t miss the flare of excitement in Shane’s voice as he realized the same thing. “Lis, you got paper and pens? We’ve got a little puzzle we could use some help decoding.”
Madeline’s stomach was a coil of nerves as she stood in the middle of Eleanor’s study staring at a Jackson Pollock on the wall. Probably worth a fortune, she figured, but to her it looked like random chaos and a great big headache. Garrett had always hated the painting, which is why it hung on the wall. There were several throughout the massive house, all in much more prominant locations. A sign of the many battles Eleanor had won over the years.
“I thought Friday’s funeral arrangements were all decided,” Eleanor said at her back.
Slowly, Madeline turned and looked toward Bryan’s aunt, dressed in crisp peach-colored slacks and a cream silk blouse. It was no secret she and Eleanor had never gotten along. Eleanor was a Schmidt through and through—refined, from old money, as polished as the fancy boarding school she’d attended. She was as far removed from Madeline’s middle-class upbringing as were the pearls around the older woman’s slim neck. But they had one thing in common—both their husbands had lived up to the Roarke reputation to the full extent of the name. And that was something Madeline would never forget.
“I lied to your housekeeper. I’m not here about the funeral.”
Eleanor’s eyes narrowed, and she turned and pulled the parlor door closed with a snap. “Perhaps you’d better tell me what this is about, then.” She sat behind her desk, lacing her elegant fingers together on the surface as she looked up with raised brow and waited.
Intimidation. Eleanor was good at it. But this time, Madeline was in control.
“I want the bronze.”
Eleanor didn’t even blink. “You have no interest in RR.”
“I don’t want it for that.”
“For what, then?”
“Peace of mind. You could turn on me anytime. That doesn’t seem like a partnership. Not the one you proposed.”
Eleanor leaned back in her chair. And in the silence, Madeline’s pulse picked up. “No.”
“What?”
“I said no.” She leaned forward to reach for a pen on the smooth desk surface. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have work to do. You can show yourself out.”
Madeline stood slack-jawed. Though part of her had expected this, there was still an element of disbelief to Eleanor’s smug attitude. “All I have to do is tell one person—”
“Tell them what, Madeline?” Eleanor said with ice in her words. “No one will believe you. Because you and I both know it never happened.”
“But you—”
“This conversation is over. If you were smart you’d think long and hard about ever bringing it up to me again. The door is behind you.”
The finality to Eleanor’s words stung like a slap in the face. As Madeline slowly made her way out of the mansion and stopped on the front steps to peer up at the bright sky, all the worry and fear she’d been dragging with her the last few days became reality. If she didn’t produce the bronze, Lucy was going to turn her in. She had no doubt the bitch would do it without a second thought. Life as she knew it would end, unless she came up with a way out.
She glanced back at the heavy doors, now closed, and felt her stomach roll with a wave of disgust and hatred for a family she’d never understood, but tried so hard to be a part of. There was only one way out of this mess now, one way to be free, and it involved destroying the social ladder she’d spent so many years climbing.
She reached for her cell phone and dialed her father-in-law. As it rang, a strange sense of victory washed over her. People would talk. They’d say her backwater upbringing had caught up with her. But that was okay; she could deal with the gossip. Because she knew when the secret Bryan had discovered finally came out, Eleanor would be the one really suffering.
“Look at them. You’d think world peace hinged on the outcome of those numbers the way they’re enraptured by them.”
Hailey turned from where she’d been refilling her coffee mug for the umpteenth time to glance toward the kitchen table where Lisa was watching the four men hunched together, trying to decipher her puzzle. Rafe, with his golden skin and dark hair standing up straight where he’d obviously pulled at it; Pete, all blond and buff, methodically calculating something in his head; while Billy, the Irish white boy of the group, tore a paper into six parts, wrote one number on each and started reorganizing them so they could look at different patterns. Then there was Shane, Mr. Dark and Skeptical, leaning back in his chair with his arms crossed over his chest, a coffee cup at his elbow and a scowl on his sexy face.
Yeah, they were a group all right. She’d seen them put their heads together like this once before, when they’d been plotting to get Tisiphone back, the Greek Fury relief that had brought Rafe and Lisa together in the first place. But she’d never predicted all four would ever be working together again. Especially knowing what Shane thought of the others.
“They’re definitely something,” Hailey said as she took a sip of fresh coffee. “Though what that is, I’m still not sure.” She’d given up on the screwdrivers, knowing alcohol was the last thing she needed tonight. After they’d eaten Rafe’s omelets, the men had decided to get busy on her numbers while Nicole and Kat volunteered to clean up, and Hailey and Lisa had tried to keep the peace among the four. It had worked for a while, except now frustration levels were growing.
Lisa crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back against the counter. “He keeps glancing over here to check on you.”
Hailey had seen the way Shane was watching her all night, and it only increased her anxiety. “He’s uncomfortable.”
“Oh, please,” Lisa scoffed. “My overprotective twin knows how to handle my domineering husband. He’s worried you’re uncomfortable.”
“Why would he worry about that?”
“Because that’s what he does. He worries about everyone but himself. Always has. Growing up, it was about me and my sisters and our mother. About making sure we were all taken care of long before he was. It’s part of the reason I finally moved to San Francisco. I love him to death, but man, he can be stifling.”
Hailey understood that. As she watched Shane lean forward to reach for her father’s cryptic letter to explain something to Billy, she thought about all the ways he’d been stifling her over the last few days. True, it was irritating as hell to have someone watching out for you like that, but at the same time, like nothing she’d ever known. No one had ever been so concerned about her before. Not her ex-lovers or her ex-husband. Not even her father.
“I knew it,” Lisa said quietly at her side.
Hailey turned to look at the woman who’d become a close friend over the last few months. “What?”
“You’re in love with him.”
“What? No, I’m not.”
Lisa’s smile was all-knowing as she reached out to touch Hailey’s arm. “It’s okay. I’m not going to tell anyone. Especially him.”
“Good, because I’m not—”
“Hailey,” Lisa said with a look. “You’re talking to the most stubborn woman on the planet, here. No one knows about denial more than I do.”
Hailey’s heart thumped against her ribs as she turned back to watch Shane move Billy’s papers around in front of him. His deep voice drifted to her ears, and though she couldn’t hear the exact words he used, just the sound sent electricity flowing through her veins.
Was she in love with him? Is that what was happening here? She was crazy about him, in a way she’d never been about anyone—even Rafe—but was that love?
“Look,” Lis
a said even softer. “I love the idiot because he’s my brother, and well, he’s a lot like me. I think you’d be…no, I think you are good for him. But there’s something you need to know about Shane.”
Hailey tore her gaze from the men to look at her friend again. “What?”
Lisa glanced at her brother, then turned her back so the men couldn’t see her face. Quietly she said, “Something happened to him about six months ago. I’m not sure exactly what. He never talked about it, but it was some situation one night when he’d gone after a suspect. They fought. The other guy had a knife. Shane got cut and ended up in the hospital for over a week—punctured lung and some serious internal injuries.”
Hailey thought back to the scar on Shane’s side. The one she’d run her fingers over when they’d kissed in his apartment.
“I was on a dig when it happened,” Lisa went on, “and he wouldn’t let our mother tell me. I only found out after I got home when he showed up at my apartment in San Francisco, unannounced, a week after getting out of the hospital. He stayed with me for two weeks before going back to Chicago, but he never once talked about it. Ever since then, he’s been different. Quieter. More withdrawn. At our wedding, here in San Juan? When he was with you? That was the first time I’d seen him smile in months. But since being back in Chicago he seems to have fallen back into that same funk as before.”
Hailey’s mind ran to the way Shane had reacted when she’d touched that scar, how he’d immediately pulled back and seemed disoriented. She looked at him across the room.
I’m me and you’re…
“I didn’t tell you this to change how you feel about him,” Lisa said quietly. “I just thought you should know. He won’t talk to anyone about it. I’ve tried to get him to see a counselor, but he shuts down when I bring it up. The man’s got a real distaste for anyone in the head business. I just…I wanted to help you understand why he can be so frustrating. At least lately. And yeah, to warn you. Relationships are hard enough. When you add in some of the stuff Shane’s been through, it makes them a lot harder.”
Hailey watched as he scratched his stubbly jaw, then glanced in her direction. Their eyes met, held, and he shot her that sexy half smile before refocusing on something Rafe was saying.
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