The Forbidden Bride

by Debra Cowan

  “Did you see who the woman was?”

  “No, I could only see Emrick’s bare butt and a woman’s leg around his hip.”

  She thrust the folder at him and reached for the door.

  Startled, Nate snagged her arm. “Where are you going?”

  “To find Kyle. You’re right. You aren’t the one who should be telling me. He can look me in the face and give it up.”

  “Want me to go with you?” Nate didn’t want to, and he knew she didn’t want him to, but he felt compelled to offer, to do something. It seemed wrong to let her go alone. Especially considering how much worse the news could get if Kyle told her about her sister as he should.

  “No, thanks,” she said with quiet resolve, her features pinched with pain, betrayal as she walked out.

  Nate grabbed the door before it squeezed shut and stepped into the hall, watching her stalk toward the traffic division.

  That first flare of anguish in her eyes had ripped right through him. Even though he had done the right thing, it still tore him up. For a few seconds, she had seemed so fragile.

  This was between her and Kyle, but it grated on Nate to know she would face the bastard alone.

  He had just reopened the wound of her past. Confronting her ex-fiancé would make a new, deeper wound. As unflappable as Robin was, the news about her sister would shake her.

  Should he go after her? Wait for her?

  He could write up his notes from the Jarvis interview, call and update McClain about what had been learned in the case today. Maybe by then Robin would be back.

  Robin was so angry she could have chewed through metal. That lying, cheating SOB. The overwhelming urge to hit Kyle forced her to stop outside the traffic division and wrestle her composure back into place. Her chest felt as though it might explode, and she didn’t want to see Kyle until she was in complete control.

  After a moment she walked in, only to find his desk empty. A quick glance at her watch showed his shift had ended over an hour earlier. Now she really wanted to hit something.

  Dan Rhodes, a wiry, ruddy-faced cop, walked up beside her. “You lookin’ for somebody, Daly?”

  “Emrick, but I just noticed the time. His shift is over, so he’s probably already left.”

  “Saw him heading out about two minutes ago, if that helps.”

  “Thanks.” She took the nearest exit, a back door at the end of the hall that led out to parking spaces at the side of the building.

  Scanning the small lot, she saw him in the far corner under the shade of a big oak tree. He sat on his motorcycle, nuzzling a cute redhead who stood between his legs. Robin bit back a sound of disgust. He had barely separated from his wife, the pig.

  She wondered how long he had been sleeping with the woman Nate had caught him with at her wedding. A quick playback of their entire dating life flashed through her mind. She didn’t remember any suspicious behavior, not once.

  Neither Kyle nor the woman noticed Robin until she stopped within a few feet of them.

  The redhead glanced over and stepped away from Kyle. “Hi, Detective.”

  Emrick smiled, the warmth in his eyes suggesting he was genuinely pleased to see her. It made her sick. He got to his feet. “Hey, Robin.”

  She recognized the redhead as the dispatcher who had worked at the Presley P.D. less than three months. “Maura, would you mind giving me a minute with Officer Emrick?”

  Robin thought she sounded remarkably calm for wanting to smash his face in.

  “Sure.” With a wave at Kyle, the other woman walked away.

  Robin noticed his gaze moving slowly up her legs, over her breasts to her face. His smile faded when his eyes met hers.

  Looking wary, he took a step back. “What’s going on?”

  “We’re going to have the conversation you owed me five years ago.”

  He tensed, glancing around. “Not here.”

  She gave a harsh laugh. “Trust me when I say that this is the safest place for you.”

  His broad shoulders grew rigid. She knew he still ran marathons. You’d think that kind of discipline might spill over into other areas of his life. He was a good-looking man, and that was about all there was to him. Robin had learned years ago that there was no character, no integrity under all the pretty wrapping. She’d been an idiot not to have realized it before she had agreed to marry him. Or—and here was a thought—when he jilted her.

  “You’ve been thinking about our wedding?” he asked tightly. “Why are you bringing this up now?”

  “The question is why didn’t you tell me the truth five years ago? That you had sex with someone on our wedding day.”

  He blanched, an unfamiliar expression skittering across his face. If it had been anyone else, she might have thought it was shame, but not Kyle.

  She balled her hands into fists, fought to keep them at her sides. “Nice to know you aren’t denying it. How long had that affair been going on?”

  “That day was the first time.” He shifted uncomfortably, his face now chalky white. “So she finally told you.”

  She? She who?

  “I told Wendy she was the one who owed you an explanation.”

  “Wendy? Why?”

  The stricken hollow look on his face scrambled Robin’s thoughts just before realization slammed into her like a truck. She froze; her stomach roiled. Surely he wasn’t saying…“Wendy?”

  The woman Kyle had been having sex with on their wedding day was her sister.

  Wendy.

  Before Robin was even aware of moving, her fist shot out and clipped him on the jaw. Hard.

  His head snapped back and his eyes narrowed as he rubbed at the spot. “I guess I deserved that.”

  His words only made her want to hit him again. It was all she could do to get a full breath around the searing, razor-edged pain in her chest. “When did y’all hook up?”

  “After the rehearsal dinner.”

  “First time with her?”

  He nodded.

  “Who else? Who else were you sleeping with while we were together?”

  “No one. Just her.”

  Did it really matter how many women he had been with? Robin knew now about the one who mattered the most. The one who hurt the most.

  Her sister had been his lover while he was with her. A greasy knot formed in Robin’s stomach. “Both of you owed me an explanation,” she ground out.

  “I kept telling her that, but she didn’t want to.”

  “Which is no excuse for you not to tell me.”

  Kyle had thrown away what Robin had thought was a good relationship twenty-four hours before they were to exchange vows. All this time she had tortured herself over what had gone wrong, wondered for a while if it was her. She replayed their time together in her mind so many times, she had worked a groove into her brain.

  It hit her then, what he’d said. “What do you mean, you kept telling her to talk to me? Past tense. How long did you keep telling her?”

  “A year.”

  “A. Year.” Fury rolled through her like molten lava. Robin shook with the effort to not deck him again. “Does that mean you were sleeping with my sister for a year after you called off the wedding? Never mind. I know it does.”

  He stepped toward her and she glared him back. “I’m sorry.”

  “For what?” she scoffed. “Getting caught in the act?”

  “No, for—how do you know we were caught?” Emrick’s eyes went hard. “Houston, that sonofabitch. He’s the one who told you.”

  Robin leveled her gaze on him until he glanced away. “He showed more respect for me on that one day than you ever did.”

  She was shocked to realize she really believed that. How easy it would have been for Nate to ignore what he had seen, keep silent and true to the good ol’ boys code, but he hadn’t.

  “Thank goodness he walked in on the two of you. And thank goodness he had the guts to stop you from marrying me.”

  “I’m sorry. I really am. Ever since th
en, I’ve regretted it. I’ve wanted to tell you.”

  “If you had, you would’ve done it.”

  Regret crossed his handsome features, but Robin wasn’t buying it. And frankly, she didn’t care if he was genuinely sorry.

  “I should’ve apologized years ago,” he said. “I was an idiot.”

  “You got that right.”

  Her sister. Those two words kept lashing at her.

  Robin didn’t want to believe Wendy had done such a thing, but she did believe it. She was angry at Kyle for what he’d done, angry at herself for not figuring it out, especially during the year following their aborted wedding. But the real devastation, the deepest betrayal, came from her sister.

  Disgust filled her as she stared at Kyle. “I am so glad I didn’t marry you. I feel sorry for the woman who did.”

  She turned to leave, trembling from anger, but holding it together.

  “Are you going to speak to Wendy?”

  She owed him no explanations. She kept walking.

  “Robin?”

  Tears burned her throat, but she swallowed them. She had done her last crying over Emrick long ago, but finding out about her sister made her feel as though her chest had cracked open.

  How could Wendy have done something like this? Robin wondered briefly if their mother knew. No. If she had, she would have forced Wendy to confess.

  Robin felt numb inside. She had to sit in her car a few minutes before she had herself completely under control. Loss and pain speared through her, but what drove the nail even deeper was that the affair had continued for a year. A year!

  She was going to find out why Wendy had slept with Kyle, why she had continued to have an affair with him. As much as Kyle’s betrayal hurt, it was nowhere near as heartbreaking as the fact that her own flesh and blood would do such a thing to her.

  And Houston had known the woman with Kyle that day was Robin’s sister. Why hadn’t he told her?

  She had every intention of asking him, but right now she couldn’t handle it. She had to get out of there, away from everyone.

  Chapter 7

  Sitting at Robin’s desk, Nate wrote out his notes from the Jarvis interview. That took about ten minutes. There was no sign of Robin. He called Collier and updated the fire investigator on what had transpired that day with the case. When McClain asked about Robin, Nate told him she was busy tying up some loose ends. After the phone call, she still didn’t appear.

  Nate supposed he should leave, but he couldn’t make himself. He didn’t want to. He wanted to see Robin, make sure she was okay after talking to Emrick. She hadn’t asked him to stay, though. She hadn’t asked him for anything.

  He rubbed at the taut muscles across his nape. Nothing good could have come from her meeting with Emrick. Where was she? Was she all right?

  Minutes passed, became a half hour. Then fifty minutes. Nate called his office, handled what business he could over the phone. A couple of times he went to the door to check the hallway then back to her chair. Finally, he couldn’t stand it any longer. He had to see her.

  Just as he stood and started around her desk, Emrick charged into the squad room.

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” the cop demanded.

  Nate arched a brow. “I take it you aren’t asking why I’m using Robin’s desk.”

  “You damn well know what I’m talking about.” Kyle stalked toward him, wiping away a trickle of blood at the corner of his mouth.

  Nate noticed a bruise forming on the man’s jaw. Had Robin done that? He bit back a smile.

  Emrick got right in his face. “You bastard!”

  Nate stiffened. “Back up. Unless you want a matching bruise on the other side.”

  The man didn’t move away, but he didn’t step closer, either. He glared as he rubbed his injured jaw.

  Nate looked past Emrick into the hallway. “Where is she?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “What did you do to her?”

  “I didn’t do anything to her. She hit me! Why did you have to go and tell her, Houston?”

  “Because you didn’t,” Nate said coldly.

  “It should’ve come from me, not you.”

  “You had five years to tell her. Does she know about Wendy?”

  The other man nodded and Nate bit off a curse. Finding out about her sister had to be killing her. Where was she?

  Kyle glared at him. “None of this is your business.”

  “Thanks to you, it is. It was obvious the minute I saw y’all together earlier that you hadn’t told her why you backed out of the wedding. You want to blame someone? Look in the mirror.”

  “I tried to apologize, but she just threw it back in my face.”

  “Go figure.”

  “I need to find her, try to talk to her.”

  “You mean try to convince her to forgive you?”

  “Yes. If I could just talk to her—”

  “Why don’t you stay away from her?”

  Still gingerly working his jaw, Kyle’s eyes suddenly narrowed. “That’s not your call, Houston.”

  “Maybe I can just take a hint.” He looked pointedly at Emrick’s bruised face and split lip. “A woman decks me, I’m going to give her some space.”

  “You probably couldn’t wait to butt in, just like you did at the wedding.”

  A red mist hazed Nate’s vision as anger erupted inside him.

  “She deserved the truth, and you were wrong for not telling her. Just as wrong as you were to cheat on her in the first place.”

  “You think I don’t know that?” Kyle muttered. “It’s pretty clear there’s no chance for us to get back together.”

  So, Nate thought, he hadn’t misinterpreted the way Kyle had looked at Robin earlier. The man did still want her. What Nate wanted was to make sure she was all right. Concern gnawed at him. “Keep your distance from her, Emrick.”

  “Don’t tell me what to do. I know I made a huge mistake.”

  “You sure did. Don’t make it worse.” Nate stepped around him and out into the hall, striding toward the front exit.

  Once outside, he stepped into the street and walked to his SUV. Daly could take care of herself. He knew that. And he’d just seen evidence of it on Emrick’s face. Still, Nate needed to know for sure that she was okay.

  He called her cell and got her voice mail. At her house, he left a message on the answering machine.

  After two more calls to her cell phone, Nate went to the only place he could think Robin might be—the fire investigator’s office. Maybe she was there talking to Terra Spencer. He knew the women were close friends.

  By the time he walked into the redbrick building that housed Presley’s fire investigator’s offices, he thought if his shoulders got any more tense, they’d break.

  The women weren’t there, but McClain was. When he saw Nate standing in the doorway of his broom-closet-size office, a grim look settled on his face.

  Nate lifted a hand in greeting. “Has Robin been here?”

  “Yes, and she was pretty torn up.” Collier sat back in his chair, his voice even.

  Nate knew his friend was waiting for information before making a judgment, and since Robin was McClain’s partner and his friend, Nate didn’t have a problem giving it. He shoved a hand through his hair. “Do you think she’ll be okay?”

  “What happened?”

  Nate shook his head. “That should come from her. I just need to know she’s all right.”

  “Did something happen between y’all?” His buddy’s mouth tightened. “Are you the reason she’s upset?”

  “No.” At least, he didn’t think so.

  “But whatever is going on is personal, isn’t it? Not about the Mailman or the task force.”

  Nate nodded. “I left her a couple of messages. She’ll call me when she feels like it, I guess.”

  “Probably. She was holding it together when she left here.”

  Nate should’ve been reassured, but he wasn’t. He wante
d to see her for himself. Still, if she wanted anything from him, she would let him know.

  He turned his attention to the green pressboard files spread across McClain’s desk, the metal sample cans on the bookcase opposite the doorway. “Are you working the Mailman cases right now?”

  Collier nodded. “Getting ready to add the information you gave me over the phone earlier.”

  “Mind if I go through all the files? Robin and I decided we should review everything, see if we missed something.”

  “Sure, help yourself.” Collier pushed two thick files toward Nate.

  An hour passed, then two, then three.

  Nate pored over the files, looking for something, anything that might have been missed. As he laid out everything bit by bit, he didn’t find any new information, but he became convinced that he hadn’t mistakenly put away the wrong serial arsonist in Chicago. The accelerant and method of ignition were the same, but nothing else.

  It was good to know Nate hadn’t proved the wrong man guilty of killing his father and twenty-one other people. He might not have made a mistake with that case, but he was starting to wonder if he had made one with Robin.

  It was after 9:00 p.m. when McClain said he was ready to go home. Nate returned Collier’s files and walked out with the fire investigator, who locked up. Robin still hadn’t returned Nate’s calls. The uncertainty of not knowing how she was handling everything flayed his nerves.

  He couldn’t quell an increasing sense of urgency to check on her. He had things to do, but until he saw Robin, he knew he’d get nowhere. She might not want company, especially his, but he had to know if she was all right.

  He asked McClain for her home address, a place in the country outside Presley city limits. From his SUV, he called her cell phone again and got no answer.

  He couldn’t forget the bleak, stunned look on her face, the way the light had gone out of her gorgeous blue eyes when he had told her what Kyle had done. She’d been furious, yes, but also devastated.

  Nate knew the feeling. He remembered the shock, the tearing pain he’d felt when he found out about his ex’s affair, how lost he had been. Wondering, needing to know how Robin was coping, he started for her house.