Moon Fever

by Susan Sizemore, Maggie Shayne, Lori Handeland

  “Right. And it’s not really illegal,” Peter said.

  “It’s only blackmail if you’re extorting money that isn’t rightfully yours. All we’re doing is pressuring him to pay what he owes.”

  Peter nodded. “Got all that. But there’s more going on here, isn’t there?”

  “Like what?”

  “You like my sister.”

  “Sure, I like her. What’s not to like? She’s a nice person.”

  “No, I mean, you like my sister.”

  Jim bought some time to form an answer by focusing on finding a parking spot at the twenty-minute-photo shop. But when he shut the Jeep’s engine off, Peter was still waiting. He drew a breath. “Would that piss you off a hell of a lot, Pete?”

  “It would depend. You’re a lot younger than her. I guess I’d do the old-fashioned thing and demand to know your intentions. You gonna date her till she starts to show signs of age and then ditch her for a fresher model? You gonna use her and break her worse than she’s already been broken? ‘Cause I gotta tell you, Jim, she can’t handle a lot more of that. And I’d have to kick your ass for it.”

  Jim sighed and lowered his head. “I can’t predict the future, Pete, but I can tell you I’m not playing here. I’m serious about her.”

  “And how about her? Where’s she in all this?”

  “Scared shitless, I think.”

  Peter pursed his lips, then lowered his head and shook it. “Yeah, well, she’s been burned. She’s smart to be gun-shy. Damn, Mary’s gonna have a freaking conniption over this.”

  Caroline was working on some accounts in the study when her next visitor arrived. She opened the door, and Mary raised a hand in the air, saying, “High five! You go, girl.”

  Caroline high-fived her sister-in-law but had no idea what she was being congratulated for.

  “What’s going on, Mare?”

  “Oh, come on. Don’t play coy with me, sis. Everyone in town saw you with Jimmy at Vincenzo’s the other night. They said he looked at you like he wanted to eat you alive. And then I get this call from Brian saying there’s something wrong with you, and I’d better check in. You ditched his sorry ass! Which I already knew. So clearly, you’re messed up. I say it’s long overdue. But don’t you even try to tell me this didn’t have something to do with Jimmy Lipton. Don’t even!”

  “Mary—”

  “I mean, I had my doubts until I saw the two of you together at the barbecue yesterday. My God, he’s clearly nuts about you. It’s written all over his face. So, what’s been going on with you two? I want details.” Mary took her hand and tugged her out the door.

  Oh, hell, Caroline thought. She knows. She’s onto me. I knew damn well I couldn’t hide it for long. “Where the hell are we going?”

  “Oh, honey, we’re going shopping. You’ve been on the shelf wearing widow’s rags long enough.”

  “I would hardly call jeans and T-shirts widow’s rags.”

  “Well, I would.” She opened the car door, and Caroline got in reluctantly.

  Mary closed it and ran around to the driver’s side, started the engine, and backed up. “First stop, Victoria’s Secret,” she said, grinning from ear to ear as she hit the gas.

  Caroline lowered her head and groaned. God, how was she ever going to live this down? But then she thought about modeling some ultra-sexy lingerie for Jimmy, and suddenly, she got warm all over. Damn, she had it bad.

  By the time her sister-in-law had finished with her, the afternoon was waning, and she was loaded down with pink boxes and bags, Mary’s treat. Caroline had managed to get through the trip without admitting to more than a slight and possibly mutual attraction between her and Jimmy but she thought Mary could see right through her. She silently vowed to pay Mary back for the piles of sexy lingerie just as soon as she could. She dumped the stuff on the sofa and moved to the phone, which was ringing off the hook. The caller ID showed Case Realty and the number, and she reached for the phone, relieved. She’d left a detailed message about the wet lady and Jimmy’s claim that she’d been showing up there for thirteen years and demanded to know why that little fact hadn’t been disclosed before she’d bought the place.

  She smiled as she picked up the phone. A couple of nights with a hunk certainly had done wonders for her inner strength, not to mention her self-esteem. She used to hate confrontation. Now she felt like shouting, “Bring it on!”

  But she settled for a polite “Hello?”

  “Caroline, it’s Sharon, your broker. Listen to me, whatever you do, just listen.”

  “I’m listening. Fill me in, Sharon. Seems there are things about this house you never told me. Including some kind of apparition. Makes me wonder what else there is about this house that you didn’t tell me before I bought it.”

  Sharon took a deep breath. “Just this. That James Lipton has been conniving and conspiring to get that place back ever since his parents sold it.”

  Caroline blinked twice as the words sank into her brain like shards of ice, chilling her slowly from her head to her heels. “What?”

  “Look, a few other owners have seen some kind of ghostly-looking woman lurking around. Then they get scared and sell, and he shows up almost immediately, with a low-ball offer to buy the place back. It’s him, Caroline. It has to be him. He’s probably got some lovesick girl working with him to drive people away so he can get the place back.”

  “But why the hell would he want to?”

  “You’ll have to ask him. But I’m telling you, Caroline. Don’t trust this guy. He’s up to something. I guarantee it.”

  Caroline hung up the phone and closed her eyes. Pain, her old friend, settled over her like a shroud and relaxed as if it had never been gone. It was familiar, and yet she’d let herself believe she’d got rid of it forever. Fool. She was a stupid, blind fool.

  Another man had played her. And she’d let him, believed that a young, gorgeous, incredible lover like Jimmy Lipton could really be interested in her. She was kind of pathetic, wasn’t she? She looked over at the boxes and bags on the sofa and thought she’d be able to pay her sister-in-law back sooner than she’d planned. Tomorrow, right after she returned every last bit of it.

  Chapter 6

  J im stood at Caroline’s door, wondering if he’d somehow stepped into an alternate dimension. She was pale, and he thought her eyes looked a little red, as if maybe she’d been crying or something. He wondered if she’d been crying over him, then told himself that was stupid. She didn’t even care about him yet. To her, this was nothing but a fling, and yeah, he hoped to change that, but it was too soon, and she’d been too badly burned.

  So, what was wrong with her, and why was she standing in the doorway as if she had no intention of letting him in?

  “What’s wrong?” he asked, because it was the most applicable of all the questions swirling through his mind. He could feel the tension emanating from her in waves, and not the good kind, either.

  “I don’t want you here tonight, Jimmy. Go back to my brother’s.”

  Jim thought he took the blow well, though he felt it right to his gut. “You gonna tell me why?”

  She lowered her head, saying nothing.

  “Caroline, what happened?”

  She drew a breath, lifted her head, and met his eyes. “A lot. You made me feel like I was worth more than Shawn or Brian, more than jeans and T-shirts. If someone like you could want me, then—then hell, I felt like I could do anything.”

  “You can. And you are. And—hell, Caroline, what changed?”

  “It’s kind of sad, really, that I let my self-esteem get so trampled that I needed validation from a hunk to get it back. But that’s what happened. It didn’t take much. I don’t think it was ever really gone, just dormant.” She shrugged and met his eyes, and he ached when he saw unshed tears in hers. “The funny thing is, it didn’t go back to sleep on me, even when I found out it was all a lie.”

  “What was a lie?”

  “You. You thought you could us
e me to get what you wanted. And I deserve better than that, and you know what? I’m done settling for less than I deserve. In a way, I guess I ought to be thanking you. If nothing else, you shook me out of my state of apathy and self-doubt. So thanks. And good-bye.”

  She closed the door before he could utter another word, and Jim stood there feeling as if he’d just been struck between the eyes with a mallet. What the hell had gotten into her?

  And where did she get off accusing him without even telling him what it was she thought he’d done, much less giving him a chance to defend himself?

  “Screw this,” he muttered, and strode back to his Jeep to drive to Peter’s.

  Caroline expected the phone call from Mary, asking her what Jimmy was doing back at their place. She’d been trying to come up with an answer that would satisfy her sister-in-law without really telling her anything. None of your damn business came to mind, but that would be kind of harsh. She was still struggling for an answer, and Mary was still shooting questions through the telephone line. What she didn’t expect was for her brother to jump into the conversation halfway through. She winced when she heard him say, “Give me the phone, Mary. Let me talk to her.”

  “Mary?” Caroline whispered. “Peter knows about this?”

  “Not from me, he doesn’t,” Mary said. “Here, talk to your brother.”

  Then, “Caro, what’s going on?”

  “Pete, hon, I love you, but this isn’t any of your business.” There. That ought to do it, and it wasn’t even all that harshly delivered.

  “Is it that loser Brian again? You haven’t decided to take him back, have you?”

  “No, and I’m not going to.” She’d been finished with Brian for several weeks now, she realized. She’d just been too damned lethargic to do anything about it. Half sleepwalking through her own life. Until Jimmy the hunk came along with a sexy wake-up call. Damn, she wished it could have been real.

  “What, then?” her brother demanded.

  “Look, I’ve decided I don’t need a man to make me feel worthwhile.” And inside, her mind was whispering that she wasn’t sure she honestly believed that. Because, damn, she wished Jimmy were there, holding her in those strong arms and making her believe the lie right now. It was dark and lonely, and she craved human contact. The carnal, sweaty, panting kind of human contact she’d only had with him.

  “Well, yeah, that goes without saying. You don’t need a man. You never did, hon. What you have to get clear on is separating what you need from what you want.”

  “I only know what I don’t want. And I don’t want to be used.”

  “Yeah, so Jim told me. And what is it you think he’s using you for?”

  “To get this house back. And I’m not saying more than that, only that I have it on good authority he’s been trying to get it back for years.”

  “Well, shit, I knew that. But hon, he never put the moves on any of the former owners to accomplish it.”

  She blinked, totally taken aback. One simple sentence that did no more than state the obvious, and she was speechless.

  “Hasn’t it occurred to you that just because he’s always wanted the house back doesn’t necessarily mean he can’t want you, too? Does it have to be one or the other, sis? Could he possibly be genuinely interested in you?”

  “I…no. God, why would he be?”

  “Aha. So all this shit you’ve been spouting about rediscovering your self-esteem is bull, then.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You don’t think he could want you just for you. You’re so used to being used by the men in your life—present company excepted, of course—that you can’t comprehend how any man could genuinely want you. Can you?”

  She held the phone away from her ear and blinked down at it for a long moment. Her brother was right. That rotten, insightful, meddling dick was right, damn him. It hadn’t even occurred to her that Jimmy’s feelings might be genuine. Because she couldn’t see what there was about her that could attract a man like him.

  Damn. She hadn’t experienced a miraculous overnight rebirth at all. She’d only been angry and hurt. What if he did want her? What if he really was for real? A decent, caring, sexy, wonderful man who actually gave a damn about her, and she’d just thrown him out of her life and slammed the door in his face?

  Well, she shouldn’t be surprised. Her ability to screw up her life was second to none. She should get some kind of freaking award.

  Something moved in her peripheral vision, and she glanced up to see the wet lady moving slowly across the back lawn. And that was all she needed right now, just to cap off a glorious day. “Oh, for the love of—I have to go, Pete. Someone’s here.”

  “Give what I said some thought, hon. I know this guy. He’s decent, I swear it. Practically asked my permission to pursue a relationship with you, and I think he really cared about my answer.”

  “Uh-huh.” She was distracted now. The wet lady was standing by the pool, pointing at something. “Say, where is Jimmy right now, anyway?”

  “He went out. He was sulking, and I think he wanted to be alone.”

  “Yeah. Okay. I’ll talk to you tomorrow, Peter.”

  “You call if you have any more trouble, sis. I don’t like you being there alone.”

  “Don’t worry. I will.” She hung up the phone without taking her eyes from the woman, then walked to the patio doors and slid them open, flipped on the outdoor light, and stepped out onto the concrete.

  The woman stared at her, wet hair in her face, eyes pathetic and huge.

  “Hey, listen up. You can quit with this, okay? I’m not afraid of you.”

  She stood there, didn’t move, just stood there, pointing at the water and waiting, God only knew for what.

  “You’re gonna regret it if you make me come over there.” But there was no response, so Caroline stepped out, barefoot, into the wet grass and strode purposefully across the back lawn toward the pool. “You know, you could get arrested for this. Is he really worth it? I’ve just recently figured out how dumb and pathetic you have to be to let a man use you. And that’s just what you’re doing.”

  The woman didn’t move. Caroline was closer now, maybe five feet from her. And she saw there really wasn’t much to be afraid of. She was small, maybe five feet tall, and barely over a hundred pounds, if that. She was pale, and the hollow cheeks and dark circles under her eyes said she wasn’t in very good health. Though she certainly didn’t look old enough to have been coming around for thirteen years.

  Then again, she hadn’t been. Jimmy probably made up the stuff about her appearing to him as a child and then used whatever girl was currently infatuated with him to play the part over the years in between. Unless…

  The girl lifted her hand, pointing again toward the pool.

  “What the hell are you pointing at?” Caroline demanded. In about five more seconds, she was going to deck the scrawny wet chick and prove she was no ghost once and for all.

  The girl jabbed her finger again toward the pool. Long, torn tendrils of lavender and pink trailed from the draping sleeve of her dripping-wet dress as Caroline’s gaze moved down it to her long, slender, almost bony finger, and then on to the water.

  There was nothing in the pool. But then she caught it, a reflection in the water of a vehicle parked on the road that ran past her house.

  She snapped her head up and turned to look toward the street, and sure enough, there was someone parked there, about a hundred yards down from her house. She could just barely make it out, shaded as it was by trees and ensconced in total darkness. But it was dark-colored, and she thought it was a pickup.

  “Brian,” she muttered. She turned back to the woman, but there was no one there. Dammit, she’d wanted to grab the bitch by the arm and drag her into the house to hold her while she called the police. Well, hell.

  “Wherever you are, you need to stop coming around here, okay?” She pursed her lips. “But thanks for the tip. Tell Jimmy a phone call would have done j
ust as well.” She glanced at the surface of the water again, wondering how the hell it managed to reflect the pickup on the road at that angle. But now it reflected only the stars overhead.

  Well, that was odd. Maybe a cloud had passed over, changing the reflection, or maybe—

  “Hi, Caroline.”

  She spun around to see Brian standing there, way too close for comfort. Shit. “What are you doing here, Brian?”

  He shrugged. “Who were you talking to?”

  “Some chick who keeps showing up unannounced.”

  “Yeah? And who’s Jimmy?”

  “A friend of my brother’s—and none of your business, by the way. Why are you parked clear down the road? What are you, turning into some kind of stalker?”

  He reached out and gripped her upper arm so fast she never saw it coming. “I’m not gonna let you dump me for some other guy, Caroline. So you can forget about it.”

  “I didn’t dump you for some other guy, I dumped you for me. And you’re hurting me, Bri. Let go of me right now.”

  He only squeezed harder and jerked her up against him. “You’re mine, you got that?”

  “Let me go, Brian.” She braced her hands on his chest and shoved, but he didn’t budge.

  “No way in hell.” He mashed his mouth down on hers, and she tasted beer on his breath and twisted her head away in revulsion.

  God, what had she ever seen in this idiot? “Get the hell off me!” She was starting to get scared, and when he grabbed her ass and thrust against her, she knew she was in trouble. She lifted a hand and raked her nails down the side of his face.

  He drew back fast, pressing his palm to his cheek and blinking at her in shock and rage, and then he hit her, the back of his hand right across her jaw. Her head snapped back so hard she thought she heard bones snapping, and blobs of light exploded in her head as she hit the ground hard.

  And then he was gone, and she didn’t know where the hell he went, until she blinked her eyes clear and saw for herself. Brian stood on the lawn, facing Jimmy Lipton, who must have yanked him away from her. Brian’s nose was bleeding, and his lip was split, and as she looked, Jimmy landed a blow that knocked him flat onto his back.