by Brenda Joyce
She stared at him and he continued, in the same sexy murmur, “Did you see that necklace Parker bought for Georgina? I imagine he’d hit the roof if he knew she was still shagging our county sheriff.”
Kait tugged on her arm. Speaking very firmly, she said, “Please let me go.”
They paused on the landing. He looked closely at her, the laughter disappearing from his eyes. “Are you all right, love? You don’t look like yourself at all. You are acting oddly.”
“I’m fine! I just need a powder room,” she said. And as she spoke, a door opened near them and an older woman stepped out. As the woman went downstairs, Kait didn’t wait. She pulled free of Farrell and darted into the marble bathroom. She closed the door and breathed hard, overcome with relief.
But the door opened immediately and he stepped inside with her, closing the door behind them—and locking it.
For one moment, Kait was so stunned, she could only gape.
He grinned and pulled her into his embrace. “What new game is this? I’ve missed you.”
Kait pushed at his chest. “What are you doing? Let me go! My God, are you insane! Get out of here!”
He stopped trying to kiss her and stared at her in real surprise. And this time, his gaze penetrated her eyes.
Kait was frantic. If Trev saw her like this, it was over. “Get out!” she said.
His regard remained deeply searching. “What is going on, Lana?” His tone had completely changed.
Clearly Lana had had another lover, but Kait had simply had enough. Still she fought for restraint. “I really do have to use the bathroom.”
He simply stared at her, as if her words were incomprehensible. Then he said, slowly, “This is very odd, indeed. By now, you should be in my arms and I should have you up against the wall. It has been a week.”
Kait said, “Please get out.”
But he stared, and as if he had not heard her, he said, “I mean, in the ten years we have been together, you have never behaved this way. And you did not call me when you got back from New York. What is going on, Lana?”
She was sweating now. “Nothing is going on!” Lana and this man had been together for ten years? The concept was nearly incomprehensible. She swallowed. “Ten years is a long time. People change.”
“Not you. Not us. Is this about Coleman? The divorce—the settlement we’re after?”
Kait simply stared at him, horrified.
“Don’t look at me as if I am a total stranger,” he flashed. “For crissakes, we’re far more than friends and far more than lovers. We’re a team.”
They were a team. “A team,” Kait managed, reeling. And she wanted to ask just what kind of team they were. But somehow she knew. Because he and Lana were both after Trev’s money—he had just said so.
Suddenly he took her hand and lifted it to his lips, pressing his mouth there. Kait froze. “I heard about that fall. I thought it was staged—as you always have a reason for everything you do. But it wasn’t, was it? Did you hurt yourself? Is that why you’re looking at me as if I am Jack the Ripper?” He smiled then. “Which we both know I am not.”
She tried to tug her hand free and failed. “Farrell, let’s talk outside.” She no longer had to use the bathroom. Her heart beat hard and fast, almost choking her.
He looked hard into her eyes and opened the door. Together, they stepped outside. How did she question him now? She wanted to know who he was, when exactly he and Lana had first met, when they had become involved, and what kind of team they were. She started down the hall, when he grasped her wrist from behind.
She met his coolly amused stare again. “You’re going the wrong way, love.” His gaze remained searching, but his easy grin was back.
“Sorry.” This man was going to guess the truth in another instant if she did not get her act together.
“Have you forgotten our business here tonight?” he asked, his face now impossible to read.
“Business?” she echoed. “No, of course not!” She smiled at him, and felt that it was strained.
He tucked her arm in his and they turned the opposite way. Kait could not imagine what he and Lana were involved in, but it sounded very much like Rafe Coleman had been right—that Lana had targeted Trev for his money, with this man at her side, as her partner. What did not make sense was waiting six years to file for a divorce. A gold digger might wait six months.
Farrell had released her arm, and Kait followed him warily down the hall, to its very end. Her heart was racing with alarm and she was filled with dread. She did not know what awaited her on the other side of the closed door that they faced, but she sensed she was about to witness something ghastly, appalling—something simply unthinkable.
He pushed open the door, ushered her in. As he closed the door, Kait started. “This is the master bedroom,” she whispered uneasily.
“Really?” He seemed somewhat amused by her comment. Kait hugged herself, cold now, in spite of the sweat that drenched her body. He walked ever-so-nonchalantly over to a medium-sized portrait of a pretty blond woman in a ball gown, a woman Kait recognized as Mrs. Parker. He lifted the portrait up, taking it off the wall.
“What are you doing?” Kait cried.
A safe was on the wall. And the moment she saw it, she knew. Her eyes felt huge as she watched him smile charmingly at her and then place a small, palm-sized device on it. A second later there was a click, and Colin Farrell swung open the safe door.
“Stop,” Kait cried, more firmly. She was in shock now.
He had taken something out of the safe; now he closed it. He held up his hand, showing her a huge yellow diamond ring. “This, love, is what we came for tonight.”
Kait remained speechless. He replaced the painting on the wall, over the safe. Kait’s mind came to life. She realized what was happening. Colin Farrell had just stolen a ring worth a small fortune. Colin Farrell was a thief.
And he was Lana’s partner.
He was approaching her. Kait wanted to tell him to get away. But she couldn’t get a word out and he was smiling at her, pressing something into her palm. No, not something—it was the stolen diamond ring.
It was burning her palm.
Kait blinked down at it and the yellow diamond swam before her eyes. “I don’t want this!” She cried frantically, finally finding her voice.
He wrapped his arm around her, and before Kait could protest, he had hustled her back into the hall. “But you do. You always do. You have never said no to a job.”
“A job?” Kait whispered, horrified.
He stared at her, brows drawn together, perplexed.
Voices sounded, approaching. Kait shoved the ring at him. “Take this and put it back!”
Farrell did grin. He folded her fingers over the ring, saying, “Smile, love, we have company.”
Kait looked past him, down the hall, and saw, of all people, Georgina and Rafe Coleman. Georgina Parker and Rafe saw them at the exact same time, and they pulled up short. Kait couldn’t think. She could only stare.
She had just helped steal a diamond ring and the county sheriff—who despised her—was on his way to the master bedroom for a lover’s tryst with the owner of that ring.
Could this really be happening?
And then she saw his expression, and it was one of outrage. “Well, well,” he said softly. “Fancy seeing you here, Lana...Farrell.”
Kait suddenly realized that Farrell had his arm around her as if they really were lovers—and she realized that it appeared that they had been using the master bedroom for the same reason Rafe was about to use it with their hostess. “Nothing happened,” she heard herself whisper pathetically.
Farrell released her. “Nice party, mate,” he said easily.
Kait shot a glance at him—he was enjoying himself. She was terrified—but he was enjoying himself! Colin Farrell was cooler than a block of ice.
“Rafe, uh, let’s go downstairs. That, uh, antique I wanted to show you can wait.” Georgina was flushing the colo
r of beets. On a blonde, it wasn’t particularly attractive.
“After you,” Rafe said to Kait.
Kait inhaled, because the diamond ring remained hidden in her palm. She felt its heat and wondered why Rafe couldn’t sense that she held it in her hand. She started past him, followed by Colin Farrell, making certain not to even brush his sleeve. Then she stumbled and stopped.
Trev stood on the top of the stairs.
Kait straightened, meeting his gaze.
His eyes dark with anger, he turned abruptly, going back downstairs.
“Trev!” Kait flew after him. It crossed her reeling mind that she still had the ring in her hand, but Rafe Coleman was behind Farrell, and she could feel his eyes boring holes into her back. She wanted to drop it on the floor, but was terrified Rafe would see. She caught up with Trev in the front hall. “Please, wait.”
He whirled. “You told me the two of you were through!”
She gasped. So he knew about Lana and Farrell? “We are over,” she cried. “I went upstairs to use a bathroom, and Farrell, damn him, followed me!”
Trev stared, and Kait knew he was deciding whether to believe her or not.
Farrell—damn him—paused beside them. Kait flinched, but was stunned to find not a trace of amusement in his expression or his eyes. He said, “She’s right. I hounded her, Coleman.” He turned to Kait and nodded in such a way that it was almost an old-world bow. “I apologize. My behavior was hardly that of a gentleman.” He nodded grimly at Trev and walked away.
Kait realized then just how thoroughly Lana and Farrell were scamming Trev.
Not only that, they were thieves.
And from the look of things, professional ones.
Trev suddenly took her arm. “Don’t lie to me now,” he said heatedly. “I mean it, Lana.”
Kait wet her lips. “Trev, after last night, how could I possibly ever look at another man the way I look at you?”
His eyes softened. And Kait knew he believed her—but then, her every word had been the truth, and spoken from the heart. “Let’s get out of here,” he said, taking her arm and pressing it against her side.
Kait glanced back. Rafe and Georgina stood a few feet away from them, Rafe watching her like a hawk. And was it her imagination, or was he eyeing her fisted hand?
And before Kait knew it, Trev had guided her out onto the veranda and down the front steps to where a valet was waiting. Kait tried to think. Should she just drop the ring? She was about to do so when a sixth sense made her glance back again. Rafe Coleman had followed them outside. He stood on the veranda, regarding them coolly, waiting for her to incriminate herself.
Kait faced forward, breathless with fear. Trev reached for her hand. “The brown Jag,” he said. As the valet hurried off he looked at Kait. “What are you holding?”
Kait smiled brightly—sickly. “Lipstick,” she said. She tugged her fisted palm free, and with her other hand, opened her evening bag. She held it carefully in front of her abdomen, so Rafe Coleman couldn’t possibly see what she was doing. And she dropped the diamond ring into her purse, instantly snapping it closed.
A moment later, they were in the Jag and on their way back to Fox Hollow.
CHAPTER 16
Trev lay on his stomach, his head turned toward her, and he was breathing softly. He was out like a light. Kait glanced away, at the illuminated dial of the small clock on her bedside table—it was three in the morning. She quietly slipped from the bed, nude.
On her way to the bathroom, she paused and bent to pick up her sandals, one by one, her Ungaro gown, a thong that she had recently purchased, and her evening bag. Her clothes had hastily been removed the moment they had stepped into the bedroom. In the walk-in closet, she hung up the dress and slid on one of his T-shirts, which happily reached her thighs. She dropped the sandals in a pile near her rows of carefully arranged shoes, then shook her head sadly.
No, those were not her shoes, just as the man in the bedroom was not her husband—they were Lana’s shoes and Trev was Lana’s husband and her sister was a thief.
She simply couldn’t believe it.
But she had the proof.
Now she was only holding the evening bag with its long, cascading fringe. She opened it and instantly saw the big yellow diamond ring. Horrified, she snapped it shut.
When was Georgina Parker going to realize that her ring was gone—and how long would it take Rafe Coleman to recall that he had found her and Colin Farrell standing right outside the Parkers’ bedroom door?
Sick with fear, Kait thought that once the ring was discovered missing, Rafe would take about two seconds flat to remember where he had found her and Farrell on the night of the gala.
She had to return the ring, before it was discovered missing.
Could she be charged with burglary?
How could this have happened? And just when Trev was falling for her. He might think she was Lana, but Kait knew now with all of her heart that he would never be behaving this way with her sister.
She heard his soft footsteps before she heard his equally soft, sleepy voice. Kait rearranged her expression as Trev paused on the threshold of the bathroom. “Hey,” he said, with a soft smile. “What are you doing?”
Kait hesitated. “I can’t sleep.”
He rubbed his eyes, looking like a man who had just spent hours making love and who had just been earning his well-deserved rest, that is, he looked sexy and delicious and oh-so-impossibly good. “I haven’t worn you out yet, have I?” he asked, his tone having changed into a sensuous rumble.
Kait met his green gaze and saw the seductive smile in his eyes. On top of everything else, on top of her pretending to be his wife, he would find out now that Lana was a thief. “Trev, you’re naked,” Kait finally said. She felt like melting into his arms and crumbling into tears at the exact same moment.
“And you are upset. Why?”
Kait shook her head, hugging herself. Did Farrell have the answers she needed? Good God, he had met Lana when she was twenty-two, ten years ago. Did that mean what Kait thought it meant?
Surely Lana and Farrell had broken up six years ago, Lana had met and fallen for Trev and married him, and then she had gotten back with Farrell.
Kait was ill and filled with dread. Because she knew with every fiber of her being that it hadn’t been that way. She respected Trev enough now, and knew him well enough, to know he would not accuse her sister of targeting him for his money if it hadn’t been the truth.
Had she and Farrell targeted Trev together? But why wait all these years to divorce? Had they decided to hide from the police for a while? Or had it been convenient to remain a wealthy woman—while they preyed upon their unsuspecting neighbors?
Trev disappeared and reappeared a second later, clad in his white Jockeys. “What’s up, Lana?” he asked quietly, sitting down on the edge of the Jacuzzi bathtub not far from where she sat on the ottoman.
She met his gaze and saw so much concern there. Her heart turned over hard. This man would be devastated, not only when he learned of her charade, but when he learned the extent of Lana’s treachery. Kait had to speak with Farrell, as soon as possible. And it was time, damn it, for Lana to come back. It was time for the truth.
“Let’s go back to bed,” Kait said, standing. His eyes followed her movement, ending at the hem of his T-shirt, where it brushed her upper thighs.
“Trying to distract me?” he asked, also rising.
“No.” She did smile, because she knew she had distracted him.
He slid his arm around her, pulled her close, and kissed her on the mouth. “I’m going to check on Sam. What time is it?”
“It’s past three,” Kait said. Sam’s curfew had been midnight. “I’m sure she’s been back for hours, Trev.”
“So am I, but I should have checked hours ago,” he said.
Kait followed him. In the walk-in, he slipped on sweats and a T-shirt. As he left the bedroom, Kait paused by the bed. The lights were on now, and
she gripped the footboard, feeling helpless and lost, but also becoming angry. What should she do now?
The urge to go the authorities had become overwhelming. Because the bottom line was that her sister was a criminal.
But Lana was her sister. Kait did not know if she had the strength to send her to prison. Kait was mentally and emotionally exhausted, but suddenly she realized that everything Lana had told her should be questioned. Lana had said she owed someone a tremendous sum of money, but why should Kait believe it? The only thing that seemed certain was that Lana’s life was in danger, and Kait knew that for a fact because of the two attempts made to hurt or kill her there at Fox Hollow.
Before Kait could reflect any further, she heard Trev shout, followed by a female scream.
Kait yanked on a pair of jeans and ran down the hall and to Sam’s room. The door was wide open, lights had been turned on. And Trev was shouting, “You goddamned little bastard, I am killing you!”
Kait dashed inside and the impossible tableau crystallized before her very eyes—Sam naked in bed, holding a sheet up over her breasts, and Trev, enraged, pinning a very naked Gabe Jenkins to the wall.
Gabe looked frightened and angry all at once. Trev jammed him against the wall. “It’s not what you think!” Gabe shouted.
“Dad, stop!” Sam screamed.
Kait ran forward, grabbing Trev from behind. “Trev, stop. This isn’t the solution,” she cried.
He became still. But beneath her hands, his body was a rock of solid tension. “You’re screwing my daughter,” he snarled. “And if I’m not mistaken, you’re eighteen and she’s sixteen, which makes this rape.”
“Ow,” Gabe said. The side of his face was against the wall. “I love her!”
“Let him go!” Sam cried. “What difference does it make if we’re sleeping together? I haven’t been a virgin since I was fourteen.”
Trev whirled, releasing Gabe. He stared at his daughter in shock while Gabe ran to retrieve a pair of blue plaid boxers and hop wildly into them.