Touch of Paradise

by Dara Girard

  Aaron found Rebecca as she exited the police station. “Well?” he asked.

  “He suspects Kelli,” Rebecca said as she went down the stairs.

  “And he couldn’t tell me that?”

  “He wanted to tell me first.”

  “Why?”

  It was a good question. Too bad she couldn’t answer it fully. “I had some suspicions that he followed up on.”

  Aaron took her arm, stopping her. “Suspicions you didn’t tell me about?”

  “They seemed harmless, but H.C. took them more seriously than I expected.” She rubbed her forehead. “I feel awful about this. I just need to go home and rest.”

  Aaron looked as if he wanted to say more, but something in her expression stopped him. He gently took her hand. “Come on, then.”

  * * *

  Of course she didn’t rest once she got back to the mansion, although she was able to convince Aaron to leave her alone. She waited a few moments before she called her sister. She got her voice mail. After three more tries, she just left a message. Rebecca checked the hallway to make sure it was clear. She didn’t want Aaron asking questions, but needed to get out of the house.

  She exited the back of the mansion and looked in Trident’s enclosure. She grinned when she saw where Candace had put an ugly statue she’d shown her earlier. One of the models who had gotten sick had given it to her, and told her to keep it for her. But Candace, being Candace, didn’t see any use for the object and decided to get rid of it. Rebecca stared at the creature, wishing it had some sort of magical powers to give her some answers. She looked closely and off to the side. Behind the cage, she saw a bit of white that she hadn’t seen before. She reached down and found crumpled balls of paper. She smoothed them open and saw Brandon’s math exams—they were filled with glaring red marks.

  She went back inside and went up to Brandon’s room, where he was playing a video game. “What’s this?” she asked, showing him the papers.

  His gaze darted left and right like a trapped animal looking for a way to escape. “Please don’t tell my dad.”

  “He should know. Then he can help you.”

  “I don’t want him to know I’m stupid.”

  “You’re not stupid.”

  “I’m not as smart as my dad.”

  “I’m going to show you how wrong you are. Give me a piece of paper.”

  He did.

  “Now, I need you to pretend to be like your dad, and you own your own resort,” she said, writing numbers on the paper then tearing it in columns. “You have three villas that are empty, and they each cost three hundred dollars.”

  Brandon laughed. “Wow, that’s a lot of money! You know I can count to a thousand.”

  “Are you ready to deal with thousands?”

  He quickly shook his head. “No. Two hundred is fine.”

  “I said three hundred, pay attention. Now, if I gave you five hundred dollars for a room, what would my change be?” she asked, handing him the paper money she’d created.

  He took the money, then set it down. “I don’t know.”

  “You haven’t tried.”

  “Why are we doing this anyway? The teacher always asks us about buses and coconuts.”

  “If you won’t let me help you, I’ll have to tell your father.”

  “Okay, okay,” Brandon said, lifting up the paper money and studying it.

  “Don’t get frightened by the extra two zeros. Forget them. What’s five minus three?”

  “Two.”

  “And if you added two zeros after that two, what is it?”

  “Two hundred,” he said with new understanding.

  “Good. Let’s try counting money.”

  He made a face of disgust. “Money’s hard.”

  “But it’s important. Remember, you’re pretending to be your dad.”

  He nodded. “My dad’s really good with money.”

  “And you will be, too.”

  Rebecca spent the next half hour with Brandon. She knew there were other things she should be doing, but helping Brandon was a nice distraction. She remembered that growing up, she had a major math phobia, and it was a kind teacher who took the time to help her overcome her fear. Besides, most of the major details had been attended to, and the show was scheduled to go on as planned. Kelli had been left to take care of last-minute details, and nothing had gone wrong. So wasn’t that proof she was innocent?

  “That was fun!” Brandon said, feeling pleased with himself after completing several more exercises Rebecca made up.

  “Now, let’s see why this is wrong,” she said, laying out his exam.

  “You won’t tell my dad about this, right?” he asked, looking anxious.

  She felt guilty about keeping another secret from Aaron, but knew he had enough to worry about already. “If you fail your next exam, you promise me you’ll tell him?”

  “Yes. I wish you could stay.”

  She looked at him with affection. “I can always come back and visit.”

  “It’s not the same,” he said.

  And Rebecca didn’t know what to say, because she knew he was right. But would Aaron ever say what his son had the courage to?

  * * *

  “How’s school?” Aaron asked his son at dinner that evening.

  Brandon glanced at Rebecca as if afraid she’d reveal something. She kept her gaze fixed on her plate.

  “Brandon?” his great-grandmother said.

  He turned to her. “Yes, Nan?”

  “Your father just asked you a question.”

  “School’s good,” he mumbled.

  Aaron watched him closely. “You don’t sound sure.”

  “I am.”

  “Good.” Aaron cut his fish. “Did you rest well, Rebecca?” he asked. The question sounded casual, but she knew it was not.

  “Yes.”

  “You didn’t rest very long,” he said, catching and holding her gaze.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I went in to check on you, and you weren’t there.”

  “I couldn’t sleep, so I went to look at Trident.” At least that was true. She didn’t need to tell him that she was anxious about H.C., worried about Kelli and frustrated that she hadn’t been able to reach her sister. “I know this might sound strange, but being around nature helps calm me.”

  Aaron nodded, but she wasn’t sure he completely believed her.

  * * *

  Later, she waited until Aaron left the room they shared and went to tuck Brandon in bed before she returned to the bedroom and tried her sister again. But she still just reached her voice mail. She gripped the phone, wondering what she should do next. Had something gone wrong?

  “You’re hiding something from me,” Aaron said from behind her.

  Rebecca spun around. She hadn’t even heard him enter. He moved like a thief, and it was times like this that his ancestry was most apparent. “No, I—”

  Aaron waved his finger, halting her words. The gesture looked more innocuous than it really was. “Who have you been trying to call all day?” he asked.

  “Someone with the show,” Rebecca said, keeping her tone casual. She set the phone down, pleased that her hands weren’t shaking. “But that doesn’t matter now.” She turned and kissed him. Lying wouldn’t work, but seduction may. And it would be much easier. “I have so much on my mind, and I feel so tense. How do you unwind?”

  His voice deepened. “There are a number of ways.”

  She rested a hand on his chest. “Care to tell me how? Better yet. Show me.”

  “I have a Jacuzzi bathtub and a pool.”

  She unbuttoned his shirt. “I like it better when you make me wet.”

  “You think that will
help you unwind?”

  “I know it will,” she said slowly, pushing his shirt from his shoulders. “You help me forget.”

  “And what do you want to forget?” he asked, his intense gaze searching her face.

  Rebecca fought to keep her voice light under his focused scrutiny. He could never know her real reason. “Just the stress of the day,” she said, letting her hands fall to his trousers.

  Aaron covered her hand and stopped her so swiftly that she cried out in surprise. “I have rules I live by,” he said in a velvet tone laced with steel. “I don’t mind being used as a bodyguard, or used as a diversion, but I will not be used as a cover.”

  Rebecca blinked, surprised by the fierceness in his tone and his words. “What?”

  “Sleep with me if you want to, not because you need to,” he said, his bold gaze daring her to look or draw away from him. “I’m not stupid, Rebecca. I can tell when a woman wants to sleep with me because she has a hidden agenda. A man like me gets used to it. Used to seeing the power of my name or the wealth of my business shining in a woman’s gaze, her greed honeying her words and perfuming her skin. Women like that make sure they smell sweet and say the right things, hoping that I won’t notice that as they’re wrapping their legs around me, they’re checking their watch to see how long it will take.”

  “But I’m not after that.”

  His eyes flashed. “Then what are you after?”

  “Nothing.”

  “I don’t know what’s worse. Knowing that you’re lying, or not knowing what you truly want. That’s what’s worse—I can’t figure out what you’re after right now, but it’s not me.”

  She grabbed his arm when he turned. “No, please, I don’t want to be alone.”

  His jaw twitched with fury. “Don’t lie to me.”

  “I’m not lying.”

  “Then stop pretending.”

  “I’m not pretending, either. Not about this. I do want to be with you. I want you to stay with me.”

  “Why? If I left, you can call whoever you’ve been trying to reach.”

  “Don’t do this,” she said in a soft plea. She didn’t want to lose him. She didn’t want him to walk out of the room, feeling that she’d used him or that she was hiding something, even though that was true. Their time together was too precious to her.

  “What?”

  “Make me break a promise.”

  “To H.C.? What are you two hiding from me?”

  “Promise is the wrong word. We just have a puzzle piece that might or might not fit.”

  Aaron briefly squeezed his eyes shut and hung his head. “How am I supposed to protect you if you don’t trust me?”

  “I do, but—”

  “But what?” he pressed, then released a heavy sigh. “Are you afraid I’ll get angry? Did you tell H.C. that you were scared of me?”

  “No.”

  He held her hand. “I may get angry and be impatient, but I’d never hurt you.”

  “I know that,” she said, caressing the worry from his face. “Just give me a day to figure things out.”

  She didn’t know whether it was her words or voice, but she saw something in his expression and stance change—soften—and she felt her fear loosen. “Fine, I won’t ask you any more questions right now.”

  “And I wasn’t playing games,” she said, tugging on the waistband of his trousers in a teasing gesture. “I do want to unwind.”

  “You want to distract me,” Aaron said in an indulgent tone.

  “That, too,” Rebecca said, unzipping his trousers, then pulling them down. “You seem as tense as I am. Is it wrong for me to worry about your well-being?”

  “Not if you mean it,” he said, removing the rest of his clothes.

  “I do.”

  “How can you say you care about my well-being when you’re driving me crazy?” he asked, then covered her mouth in a wild, hungry caress. He stripped off her clothes with speed, but control, claiming her body with precise mastery. “If it were anyone but you, I’d get the answers I seek,” he said, kissing the moist hollow of her throat. He lifted her in his arms. “I’d make you uneasy.”

  “I already am.”

  “Not enough,” he breathed, laying her on the bed, then covering her with his body. “If you were anybody else, I wouldn’t surrender so easily.”

  Rebecca looked down the length of his body, feeling the heat of his hard chest pressed against her breasts. “You call this surrender?”

  A sensuous smile touched his lips. “Do you deny your conquest?”

  “I don’t think anyone can conquer you.”

  “It won’t work,” he said, teasing her ear with his tongue.

  “What?” she asked, feeling her toes curl.

  “Trying to tease me with your modesty,” he whispered.

  Rebecca laughed, running her fingers down the length of his back. “I can hardly call this being modest.”

  “You don’t even realize the true power you have over me, do you?” he said with feeling. “That’s good. I’ll use it to my advantage.”

  “Right now you have all the advantage.”

  “And it’s still not enough,” he said, then kissed her response from her lips, making her forget what she was about to say—and everything else. He took every opportunity to remind her of how much he ruled her heart. When they were through, she lay still in the safety of his embrace, ready to drift off to sleep.

  Aaron rubbed his thumb over her taut nipple. When he spoke, his warm breath tickled her skin. “Do you know one of the reasons my marriage fell apart?”

  Rebecca paused, no longer feeling at ease. “No.”

  “Lies and secrets. I abhor them.”

  She delicately cleared her throat. “I agree about lies, but sometimes secrets have their place.”

  “Not in my house,” he said softly.

  “Not all secrets are bad.”

  His eyes clung to hers. “They can still erode trust.”

  “You don’t trust me?”

  “You won’t tell me everything about your conversation with H.C., and now I even see you having private looks with my son.”

  “It’s a surprise. Brandon wants to surprise you, and I said I’d help.”

  “What kind of surprise?”

  “You’ll find out later.”

  He lifted a brow. “I told you I hate to wait.”

  “You’ll do it for him.”

  “What about H.C. and the person you keep calling?”

  “Did you find out anything more about Kelli? Were you able to get H.C. released? He said you would—”

  He pressed a finger over her mouth. “You first.”

  Rebecca sighed, tired of keeping secrets from him. He was right—secrets were eroding the tenuous bond between them. “I’ve been trying to reach my sister, and I haven’t been able to.”

  “Why? Is there something wrong with your grandmother? I know you told me she looks after her.”

  “No, I found out that Rachelle is here on the island, and she’s the reason H.C. broke into Kelli’s place.”

  “That doesn’t make sense.”

  “He thought she was me. We’re identical twins.”

  Aaron looked at her with renewed interest. “I didn’t know you were a twin.”

  “It’s not something I share. I want her life as separate from mine as possible.”

  “I see.”

  “But she’s been up to something on the island, and that’s why H.C. got caught up in it. They think Kelli is the one creating havoc.”

  “With what proof?”

  “He won’t say. And I don’t believe it, but he wants me to talk to Rachelle first.”

  Aaron kissed her on the forehead then leaned bac
k. “You don’t have to worry about your sister. She’s safe.”

  Rebecca sat up and stared at him. “What? You knew?”

  “Yes,” he said, looking self-satisfied. “I wanted to see what you would tell me.”

  “But how did you know, and when did you—”

  “This morning. I heard you answer the phone and listened while you were in the bathroom.”

  “Eavesdropping.”

  “I was doing my job,” he corrected. “While you were at the TV station, I got your sister’s number from your mobile and called her and told her not to speak to you.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I wanted to see how much you trusted me. Not much, by the look of things.”

  “H.C. told me not to, and I wasn’t sure—”

  “You still should have told me. What if something had happened to her? This island isn’t just a holiday paradise. It has a dark side, too.”

  “You’re right,” Rebecca admitted with reluctance. “I’m sorry. I won’t keep something like that from you again.”

  “Hopefully there will never be another reason to.”

  “So even when we were at the jail, you knew?”

  “I didn’t know or suspect she was your twin until what happened to H.C., then I started to put things together. She’ll be coming here to the house tomorrow. It’s time all this comes out in the open.”

  “I agree. I just need one thing from you.”

  “What?”

  “When she comes, let me talk to her first—alone.”

  Chapter 14

  “Do you have any idea of how much trouble you’ve caused?” Rebecca asked her sister as they sat in Aaron’s living room the next day.

  “I was trying to help you,” Rachelle said with a sigh.

  “H.C. was arrested, the reputation of the resort was on the line because H.C.’s an employee, and—”

  “I know, I know,” she said, waving her hands in surrender. “I didn’t mean for all this to happen.”

  “Why did you pretend to be me?”

  “So that I could watch Kelli and gather some information in town.”

  “What made you think of her?”