by Dara Girard
“Don’t expect a repeat performance.”
“People are curious about you. You would make a great guest.”
Aaron shoved his hands in his pockets. “We know that will never happen. I’m here for one reason, and it’s not you.”
“Do you want to say anything about what’s troubling the upcoming Cromwell Collection?”
“No, and if you dare mention it on air, I’ll make you regret it.”
A cool grin touched her lips. “Careful what you say.” She pointed at him in a playful manner, her wedding ring catching the light. The stone was so large, Aaron was surprised she could raise her hand. He knew it was from her second husband.
“You can quote me on that. I know how you operate. I wouldn’t be surprised if you were taping me right now.”
“No, I don’t do that anymore. So what’s going on with you?”
“You don’t really expect me to answer that.”
“I can’t help but be curious.” She looked over at Rebecca. “She’s a little like Ina.”
“She’s nothing like Ina.”
“No need to get defensive. Maybe later we could—”
He shook his head. “Let’s stop pretending we have anything more to say to each other. I just wanted to warn you.”
“I have to do my job.”
Aaron blinked. “And I’d hate to see it put in jeopardy,” he said, then walked away.
* * *
Rebecca knew who Tonya was. She was the woman who had broken Aaron’s heart, but meeting her in person was still a shock. She’d thought the woman who’d hurt Aaron would be a sly woman, not the smiley, button-nosed petite woman who greeted her. She put Rebecca at immediate ease, complimenting her designs and sharing her admiration for Rebecca’s career before the cameras started taping. And Rebecca hoped for that same ease when they went live. For the first several minutes it was fine—that was, until Tonya went in for the kill.
“I’ve heard you’ve had a lot of problems with your upcoming show. Do you think your show is cursed?” she asked.
“That’s an odd question,” Rebecca said, determined to remain poised, even though the question caught her off guard.
“Is it? I’ve heard that your event has been plagued with several misfortunes so far.”
“I know that we have a great team on board who are working to put together a stellar show.” She shrugged. “If people are not interested in seeing a spectacular show and my latest collection, there’s not much more I can say.”
“But you can say something about the stage malfunction and the snake.”
The little vixen was tenacious, but Rebecca was undeterred. She may not look as sweet, but she had a lot more will. “I don’t believe there’s anything to say. I’d really hate to say anything against the wonderful people I’ve worked with here on St. James.”
Tonya looked a little flustered by the response. Rebecca knew she’d put her on sticky ground, and she’d have to tread carefully. Rebecca stared at her, willing to let the silence lengthen, knowing that it was deadly on TV, but she wouldn’t be provoked to up their ratings for anything.
“Tell us why you got into fashion,” Tonya said in a desperate bid to save the interview.
Rebecca resisted smiling, although she knew she’d triumphed, and answered. From there the interview went exactly as she wanted it to. Once it ended, she took off her microphone.
Aaron approached her with a grim expression. “I don’t know how she found out so much.”
“Someone must have told her.”
Aaron raised a brow, looking both pleased and impressed. “You handled her well.”
“She looks as harmless as a cartoon bunny, but she’s as lethal as a deadly spider,” Rebecca said with a shiver.
“Fortunately, you didn’t let her bite you.”
“I wonder why she was so determined to talk about the mishaps,” Rebecca said as they headed to the exit.
“Ratings. People like to hear bad news, especially when it happens to successful people.”
“But she could tell right off that I wouldn’t cooperate. She took a risk to try to press me.”
Aaron abruptly stopped walking. “You’re right. That’s strange.”
Rebecca looked at him, curious. “What is?”
“Tonya likes risk. She likes challenge and controversy.”
“She didn’t today.”
“No, she didn’t go as far as she usually does,” he said, turning. “And I need to find out why.”
“Do you want me to wait in the car?”
“No.” He lifted his hand and motioned to one of the guards. When he came over to them, Aaron said something under his breath, then turned to Rebecca. “Stay with him, but stay within my sight. This won’t take long.”
* * *
When Tonya saw Aaron marching up to her, she held up her hands in surrender. “I was just doing my job.”
“How did you know so much?” Aaron asked.
She let her hands fall and batted her eyes like a sweet child. “You know I can’t reveal my sources.”
Aaron folded his arms. “You could have pressed harder. Why didn’t you?”
“I didn’t have a choice.”
“Of course you did. I’ve seen you make people cry.”
“I know when I’m being baited. If I’d kept going, she would have made me seem as if I were bad-mouthing the island.”
“The truth hurts. Viewers understand that.”
“But I didn’t want to risk my reputation on their understanding. I had her on the show and mentioned her troubles. That will have to be enough.”
“Did you stop because of me?”
Tonya held up her hand, proudly flashing her ring. “I’m completely over you. You’re the one who hasn’t gotten over me.”
“Yesterday, you may have been right about that.”
Her smug expression faltered. “Yesterday?”
“Yes. Yesterday, I was still the man who hated the thought of how much he’d once loved you. A man who’d truly cared about you before all this. Who knew you when your nickname was ‘Tacky Tonya’ and you only had three shirts and two skirts.”
“Don’t ever say that name again.”
“I never have, until just now. I knew how much it hurt you. Yesterday, I was still the man you’d so enraptured that he defied his family’s disapproval to see you. Who still cared, even after your cruel prank humiliated him.”
Tonya blinked back tears. “It was just a joke. But that was years ago. Why bring it up?”
“When did you stop being human? When did you stop using your pain and hurt as empathy and instead begin using it as a weapon? When did you just become a voice on the radio or a face on TV?”
Tonya’s tears dried up. “Success has its price.”
“Success?”
“Someone like you wouldn’t understand that. I wanted to be with you, but I grew sick and tired of people thinking I’d gotten my radio show because of your connections. I hated how everyone seemed to give you credit for my success.” She tapped her chest. “I wanted to prove that I was stronger, that you were the one who needed me.”
Aaron smiled without humor. “Yes, that’s the fire I expected to see. Who are you afraid of?”
“No one. I just think what’s been happening there is odd.”
* * *
Rebecca knew she had to tell Aaron about Rachelle, but she could never find the right time. After the TV show, she made an appearance at a local gallery, then gave an interview with a reporter. Twice she ducked into the ladies’ room to call her sister, but only managed to reach her voice mail.
“Aaron, there is something I have to tell you,” Rebecca said as they left the reporter’s office. “Though it might be nothing.�
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“Okay,” he said, then his cell phone rang and he looked at the number. “Just a minute. I have to take this.”
Rebecca watched him listen, and then his face changed to an expression she’d never seen before and hoped to never see again. “I’ll be right there,” he said.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, trying to keep up with his swift pace as they headed to his car.
“It’s H.C.”
“What about him?”
“He’s been arrested.”
Chapter 13
Aaron pinned Harvey with a hard look as they sat in the jail cell. “What has gotten into you? Changing your looks is one thing, but breaking into a guest’s room? What were you doing in Kelli Davis’s villa?”
Harvey sat opposite him with his head lowered, looking defeated. “I had my reasons,” he said in a quiet voice.
“Tell me what’s going on.”
He shook his head, defiant. “I can’t, not yet. Not until I get to speak to her.”
“Who?”
He lifted his head. “Rebecca.”
Aaron paused, then narrowed his eyes a fraction. “Why do you have to speak to her?”
“I’ll explain later.”
“You’ll explain now.”
Harvey looked up at the ceiling, then pointed. “Look, someone wrote their name. I wonder why they did that.”
“Don’t toy with me, H.C.,” Aaron warned.
Harvey squinted at the writing. “It doesn’t make sense. Why would someone want to be remembered in a place like this?”
The silence that followed his statement fell with such a potent weight that he was forced to look at Aaron.
“Start talking,” Aaron finally said.
Harvey reached for his handkerchief, then realized he didn’t have it and sighed, letting his hand fall to his lap. “No.”
Aaron stared back at him for a few moments, not sure he’d heard correctly. H.C. never said no to him. “I’m sorry?”
“I said no.”
“Why not?”
“I have to talk to Rebecca first.”
“Why would you need to talk to her instead of me?”
Harvey waved his hand. “Not instead, just before,” he clarified.
“This isn’t like you. Don’t be an idiot—”
Harvey rose to his feet in anger. “Do you really have so little respect for me? Do you think I’d be in this place for my own amusement? Don’t you think I’d have a good reason? I’ve served you and your father before you, and I’ve never doubted you, even when I disagreed. Why? Because we both honor a code—a code of duty. What I need to say to Rebecca has nothing to do with you.”
“Rebecca has everything to do with me.”
“There are some things you don’t know.”
“You work for me. And your job—”
“I know my job,” Harvey rudely interrupted.
“Tell me what you know.”
“Let me speak to Rebecca.”
Aaron took a menacing step toward him. “My job is to protect her.”
“I know, and I have to protect her, too,” Harvey said, standing his ground.
“From what?” Aaron demanded.
“From you.”
Aaron stumbled back as if Harvey had struck him. “From me?”
“Yes. You don’t know the power of your anger, and I don’t want to expose her to that.”
“Rebecca understands me.”
“She’s not as strong as you think. You could hurt her.”
“I’d never do that,” Aaron said, his voice raw.
“You wouldn’t do it intentionally, but you’re a hard man, Wethers.”
“Did she tell you that I frightened her?” Aaron asked, suddenly unsure.
“No, but she doesn’t have to. Where is she now? I bet you have her out in the waiting area with a guard you trust. Correct?”
Aaron nodded.
Harvey smiled, pleased that he’d been right. “See? I know you well. You’re not the only man with honor and a desire to protect. I may not have your money or power, but I have my reasons for what I did, and that should be enough for you.”
Aaron swore, then nodded. “Okay,” he said, then left Harvey and found Rebecca in the waiting area just as Harvey had guessed. “He wants to talk to you.”
“Me? Why?”
“I don’t know,” he said with frustration glittering in his gaze. “He’s adamant about it.” Aaron looked at Rebecca for a long moment, thinking of how H.C. felt the need to protect her from him. He never wanted her to be scared of him. He wanted to be the one—the only one—she turned to.
He drew her into his arms and kissed her, groaning deep when his tongue tasted the sweet flavor of her mouth. “Remember that,” he whispered against her lips before he let her go.
* * *
Rebecca’s lips still burned from Aaron’s kiss, but she didn’t have time to wonder about it because soon a guard led her to Harvey’s cell. “I half expected you not to come because of Wethers,” he said, pleased by the sight of her.
Rebecca sat down, feeling a little uneasy by the joy on his face. “You have to tell me everything that happened.”
He frowned. “You know what happened. I was dumb enough to get caught.”
“Did I ask you to go into her room?”
“You know you didn’t. Rebecca, why are you acting this way?”
“So you think you saw me?”
“I know I saw you.”
“What was I wearing?” she asked.
He scratched his head, annoyed. “Why are you asking me this?”
“Because it’s important.”
“You were wearing your regular disguise—a dress, floppy hat and glasses.”
Rebecca leaned back and sighed. “I was afraid of that.”
“Of what?” He leaned forward. “Rebecca, what’s going on?”
“H.C....last night I was with Aaron.”
His face fell. “Are you saying I’m imagining things?”
“No.” She bit her lip. “I think you saw my sister.”
He made a face. “Your sister?”
“Yes, my identical twin.”
“You have a twin?”
Rebecca nodded. “Yes. She was born a few minutes before me, so we always joke that she’s older. She also likes to look out for me. I just found out she’s on the island, and I’m supposed to meet her to find out why.”
“You mean it wasn’t you in town or at the market last night?”
“No.”
“Your sister,” he repeated, looking relieved. “You have a wonderful, beautiful sister.”
Rebecca couldn’t help a smile. “I see she made an impression on you.”
“What’s her name?”
“Rachelle.”
“What does she do? Where does she live? Where is she right now? What—”
“I don’t know where she is right now,” Rebecca said, holding off his questions with a wave of her hand. “She’ll have to answer your other questions later, but first I have to get in touch with her and get her to help clean up this mess.” She stood and turned.
“Maybe you shouldn’t,” Harvey said, standing, as well. “Wethers can get me out of here. Perhaps we shouldn’t bring her into this.”
Rebecca turned to him, confused. “Why not?”
“She kept her identity a secret for a reason. I was in Kelli’s villa because we think she’s the culprit, but we need to catch her the right and legal way to make sure the case sticks. We don’t have a strong motive.”
“Kelli?” Rebecca said in disbelief. “My assistant?”
“Yes.”
“But she couldn’t
. She’s—”
“We found some things in her place.”
“Why would she want to stop the show?” Rebecca asked, refusing to believe his claim. “And the snake—”
“I don’t think it was intentional. Many foreigners confuse the poisonous ones with the more harmless type. Maybe you did something to her in the past.”
“No, Kelli’s not like that. We always got on fine. I can’t believe that Kelli would have anything to do with this. I won’t believe it.”
“Talk to Rachelle first, then get back to me.”
“But how will Aaron get you out of here if—”
“Don’t worry,” Harvey said with a knowing grin. “Wethers and I know how to work the system. Just find your sister.”
Rebecca left Harvey’s cell, feeling as if she’d walked into her own prison. What a horrible reality if it were true. Could her assistant really be behind everything? Rebecca wondered about this as she slowly walked down the jail hallway. She remembered how upset Kelli had been when she’d told her she was staying with Aaron.
“What am I supposed to do?” Kelli had asked her as Rebecca packed.
“Everything you’ve been doing.”
“But you don’t need me as much if you have him following you everywhere.”
“Kelli, I don’t understand why this bothers you. You’ll still get paid. I need you to help organize the volunteers. You’re crucial to this show.”
“Why won’t you listen? You could get hurt next time.”
“Aaron won’t let that happen.”
“How do you know?” Kelli challenged. “I thought you said you weren’t interested in him.”
“He saved my life twice.” Three times, she wanted to say, but knew it was better not to. “I’ll be okay, and you can enjoy some more freedom. Take this as a semi-holiday in that you don’t have to follow me around anymore.” But Kelli still looked concerned, and now Rebecca wondered why she had been so against her being with Aaron. Why had she been so insistent that she cancel the show? Why was she so worried that Rebecca could get hurt? No, Kelli couldn’t be the culprit. Her concern had been real. It had to be someone else. Rebecca groaned. And now her sister was here. Should she tell Aaron? H.C. seemed to think she should, and he knew Aaron better than she did. They had met only a couple of days before the show.