THE WRONG BROTHER

by Bonnie K. Winn

  Jessica frowned. "Not too much on that front, I'm afraid. I think I may have attributed qualities to Rod he doesn't really have."

  "Oh?"

  Jessica looked at her somberly, her expression wistful. "I think I wanted so badly to find another man as special as Michael that I've been grasping at straws."

  "Does that mean you won't be seeing Rod anymore?"

  Jessica shrugged. "I imagine we'll still date. It's nice having an escort who isn't eighty years old and dragging along his oxygen tank, but that's probably about all that's going to come from this relationship."

  "As long as your eyes are wide open, you'll be okay. And you can keep your gaze in shape by watching for Mr. Right," Katherine suggested.

  "I don't think he exists," Jessica replied glumly. "I met a nice guy at the coffee shop this morning, but of course he's just passing through town."

  "Maybe he'll be back."

  "Maybe, but I'm not counting on it." Jessica sighed mightily. "The good ones are either taken or just passing through."

  "And you're sure he's a good one?"

  Jessica smiled in memory. "I think so. I know my judgment hasn't been that great lately, but I sensed something special about him."

  Katherine hoped he was as special as Jessica described. Her friend was due for a change of luck in the romance department. "Does he have a name?"

  "Subtle, Katie, real subtle. Do you plan to put out an all-points bulletin on him?"

  "Depends." Katherine grinned. "What's his name?"

  "Well, not that it will do you any good…" She paused, her eyes softening. "John Lewis."

  "What's he like?" Katherine prompted.

  "Who?" Elliott asked as he flopped down on the quilt.

  "John Lewis," Katherine replied, noticing that Elliott went suddenly still.

  "Oh, she's just being the eternal optimist matchmaker," Jessica replied. "I met him at the coffee shop this morning and I'll probably never see him again. But you know your wife. Never say die when there's one unattached male left on the planet she can possibly fix me up with."

  Elliott looked at Jessica. "I thought you were dating Rod."

  "True. But since that doesn't seem to be shaping into one of the great romances of the century, Katherine is still on the trail for available fix-up material."

  "She's a determined hunter," Elliott agreed, his careful gaze shifting between the two women.

  "Let me guess." Katherine laughed. "That's how I caught you."

  He shrugged with mock humility. "You said it, not me."

  Katherine joined in the laughter, but she noticed that Elliott still seemed tense, almost as though he was on alert. She wondered why.

  Jessica stretched and stood. "I think I'll check and see if our astronauts need any help reentering the atmosphere."

  Katherine held up a plastic bag filled with Oreos. "Better not forget their fuel."

  Laughing, Jessica accepted the bag. "Enough sugar and they will be in orbit."

  Her forehead furrowing in concern, Katherine watched as her friend walked away.

  "Problem?" Elliott asked, stretching out his legs.

  "Not really. I just hate to think that Jessica's dating Rod simply so she won't be alone."

  "You can't fix everything, funny face."

  "No, but I can't stop wanting to. I guess I kind of feel guilty," she admitted.

  Elliott's gaze sharpened. "Why?"

  "Because I have you and my best friend is alone." Katherine picked up his hand, absently caressing his knuckles. "I've been turning things over in my mind—" she met his eyes, allowing the love she felt for him to shine clearly "—about how I not only love you, but I respect and admire you. And that makes my love stronger and deeper." She tightened her grip on his hand. "I know this is going to sound crazy, but it's almost as if you're another person – one I love even more than before." She paused. "Certainly in a different way. A better way I think."

  Elliott was quiet, then he clasped his hand over hers. "Sometimes things change in ways we don't expect or even want."

  Puzzled, she looked into his eyes. "But the changes have been good. I'll admit I was attracted to your carefree side. It was a freedom I'd never experienced and I'll always be grateful you gave me that. But for the long haul I like knowing I have your strength to lean on. That's something I never had before, either, and it's a priceless gift."

  "Suppose when my memory returns, I'm the old carefree guy you married. What then?"

  Hearing the uncertainty in his voice, Katherine reached out to touch his face. "Then we'll deal with it. But I don't imagine this part of you will change. The accident was life-altering. I know it's difficult for you to accept – having gaps in your memory. But you can trust me when I say that the maturing is a good thing, a very good thing."

  His voice was gruff. "I hope you'll always see it that way."

  She smiled, content in the knowledge that all was still right with the world. Leaning forward, she gently kissed him, her lips lingering over his. "We've only begun, my love. It can only get better."

  * * *

  Chapter 15

  «^»

  "You didn't tell me you were investigating Jessica Appleton," Paul said as he accepted the steaming cup of coffee from John. They were meeting at the park. It was a quiet time of the day. A few older people sat on benches while mothers with preschool-age children peppered the playground area.

  "You told me you wanted to pull out all the stops," John replied, taking the lid off his own coffee, then crumpling the bag he'd carried the cups in. "I took advantage of a chance meeting in the coffee shop. I don't think she suspects anything."

  "Just what angle are you using?" Paul asked.

  John raised an eyebrow. "Checking me out, pal?"

  "No. But whatever method you used, Jessica thinks it's a different kind of interest than what you have in mind."

  "Different?" John blinked. "She thought I was interested in her personally?"

  "You sound pleased," Paul noted, hoping they didn't compromise his entire CIA section by their attraction to the appealing women of the East Coast.

  John shrugged, but Paul caught the light of interest in his friend's eyes. "I didn't think she noticed me. Guess I didn't do my job very well."

  "Or you did it too well," Paul said wryly. "And my conscience has already met its quota in hurting women." He remembered Katherine's declaration of love. The guilt still ate at him.

  "I don't intend to hurt the woman," John replied stiffly. "It was a simple initial contact."

  "I know it wasn't intentional." Paul felt his own conscience pricking again. "But Jessica's pretty vulnerable, and she could take your interest the wrong way."

  "She could be a good source to learn more about the real Katherine," John countered. "Who better to spill your guts to than the best friend?"

  Paul couldn't withhold a sigh. "I know."

  "It's not like you to waffle on an investigation, Elliott."

  Paul met his friend's gaze. "It's never been this personal before."

  "I'm not discounting your brother's death, but it won't help him if you're killed because we dropped the ball."

  Slowly Paul raised his head. "Then you do think I was the target."

  "The status on that hasn't changed. But you remember the rules. We take preventative measures on the small, maybe even infinitesimal chance that you could have been the target."

  Paul rubbed one hand down his face. "Hell, I know that. And I know you're helping. I'm not angry at you. I'm mad as hell at myself for letting this happen."

  "Even you couldn't have prevented it," John argued. "Assuming you were the target, if you had been on the plane with Matthew, the only difference is that you'd be dead, too. And as much as you don't believe it now, that would have been far worse for Katherine and her son."

  "In what way?"

  "If she's cleared, you'll make sure she and her son are well taken care of, because Matthew can no longer do it."

  Paul tried to di
sregard the pain in his heart. "After she finds out the truth, I doubt she'll accept anything from me. I'll be the last person she'll want to see."

  "But if Katherine isn't cleared, you'll make certain the child is cared for, and I'm sure she'd accept that."

  Paul couldn't deny the dread he felt as he looked at his friend. "If I prove Katherine's guilt, I will make an orphan of Dustin. And there's no reconciling that fact."

  * * *

  Katherine watched the shadows creep up the walls, the dark shapes shrinking as the rising sun gradually lightened the bedroom. As she watched, the lace curtains at the window drifted in the gentle morning breeze. The same currents carried in the scents of the magnolias, the roses and the freshly cut grass.

  She couldn't sleep despite Elliott's warm body tucked spoonlike next to hers. He had abandoned sleeping in the study, now taking his place in their bed every night. But that wasn't what kept her awake.

  No, that was what she'd wanted from the beginning, what she had longed for, had despaired might not happen. But she couldn't stop thinking about the bleakness she still saw in his eyes – and the extreme tenderness in his touch, a tenderness coupled with urgent desperation. She didn't understand the cause of either the urgency or the desperation. She couldn't help thinking at times he was trying to imprint his mind with everything so he wouldn't forget.

  Katherine wondered if he needed to see a doctor, a different doctor. When she'd hesitantly suggested that, he'd dismissed her concerns. But something was wrong, something he wasn't telling her.

  Elliott stirred, his arm tightening around her. She stroked the length of his forearm, her hand closing over his, wishing she could somehow divine the secrets he was keeping. She had learned long ago to follow her instincts. When she'd ignored them, she'd always regretted it. And now her instincts were standing on full alert. Something was wrong, terribly wrong. But how did she prod Elliott into telling her what it was?

  Katherine turned to face him and reached out a hand to touch his cheek. What is it, Elliott? What are you not telling me? It wasn't like him to keep things from her – he'd always been an open book. But now those covers were slammed firmly shut.

  He stirred again, one hand rising to capture hers, the sunlight glinting off their wedding bands. "Morning," he said, his voice husky with sleep.

  "Morning, yourself," she replied, loving the way his eyes widened, then darkened with desire.

  He kissed the hand he held, then raised himself on one elbow so that he looked down at her. Tenderly his fingers caressed her face, pausing at her lower lip, tracing its outline. And still his deep blue gaze held hers.

  Her heartbeat accelerated as his lips moved to kiss first her brow, her eyelids and finally her lips. It was a gentle exploration. Then the kiss deepened.

  The morning sun brightened further, its warmth enveloping them. Even as his touch ignited new fervor, she tasted the desperation, the hunger. What was causing his pain? His urgency beckoned from somewhere deep inside, making her want to cry out in response.

  Her blood seemed to thrum as his hands stirred her passion, creating that same incredible intensity, reasoning blotted out by yearning. And her cries spilled into his when he took them over the edge. For the moment making her forget, making the worry recede. Making everything right.

  * * *

  "More gooey stuff," Dustin requested from his perch on a stool, the top of his head barely reaching Paul's waist.

  Paul suppressed a grin. "It's called shaving cream."

  "More s'aving cream," Dustin amended.

  "I guess that is a pretty tough beard you've got there," Paul said, stooping to add more shaving cream to Dustin's small face.

  "Tough," Dustin repeated, carefully imitating Paul's movements with a toy razor.

  Paul's smile surfaced through his own layer of shaving cream. "Kind of like you, big guy."

  "Yeah," Dustin agreed in typical male fashion. Fondly Paul gazed at the child. Despite his intentions to remain distanced, the bond between them was growing, the warmth centered in his heart increasing each time Dustin showed him more trust.

  "You and Brian going to Zorak today?" Paul asked, drawing his own razor across his cheek.

  "Nah. We're goin' to the park 'cause it's got swings."

  Paul marveled that the child could so easily transport himself from an imaginary planet to the neighborhood park. "That sounds like fun."

  "Uh-huh," Dustin agreed, squinting in concentration as he tried to match Paul's movements.

  Paul swallowed a rising chuckle. "That's good, big guy."

  Dustin angled his face. "Your head all okay now?"

  Pausing, Paul tried to take stock as he answered cautiously. "Pretty much. How come?"

  "I don't want you to go away no more," Dustin responded earnestly. His eyes, replicas of Katherine's, seemed to gaze straight into his soul.

  Feeling the fissure in his heart expand into a crater, Paul reached down for Dustin, lifting him into a hug. "I know, big guy. I know."

  * * *

  The cove was tucked into a stretch of white sand beach, hidden by the rise of gently rolling dunes. Not far away a virgin stand of bald cypress and tupelo trees guarded a pathway to swamp and marshlands. Quiet and deserted, the place was obviously one that Katherine loved. She'd chosen it, after all.

  No human footprints indented the sand. The few tracks on the tide-washed beach were left by hermit crabs or sandpipers, or possibly a great sea turtle that had lurched up the sand to dig her nest.

  Much like the slower pace of the South Carolina life-style, Paul could almost imagine they'd carved out their own piece of paradise. But, he reminded himself, at best it was a temporary paradise.

  Katherine's long tanned legs flashed in the sun as she walked confidently ahead, claiming their spot on the pristine shore. As she turned, her hair glinting in the sun, she caught his gaze and grinned. He was stunned by the force of it, the corresponding reaction in his gut.

  She held up her snorkeling gear. "I can't wait to get in."

  Paul nodded, not trusting the words that might spill out. Watching her, he realized that he wholeheartedly believed she was innocent, even though he hadn't gotten the results of the entire investigation yet. If he was wrong, the consequences would be disastrous.

  Yet, if she were proved innocent, the consequences could be equally dire – at least for himself. He would no longer be the recipient of her dazzling smiles, her tender heart or her loving ways. He would be the last person she'd ever want to see.

  "Something wrong?" Katherine asked, one hand shading her eyes from the bright midday sun.

  Realizing he must have shown his feelings, Paul shook his head and dredged up a smile. "No. Just ready to hit the water."

  A relieved smile eased back over her face. "Me, too."

  After pulling on their flippers, they waded in. Protected from the pounding surf, the cove lured many of the smaller more fragile species of sea life. The water became deeper as the underwater shelf that supported them ended. Katherine swam ahead, turning suddenly to face him, the reef behind her a magnificent backdrop.

  For a brief moment Paul was caught by a whim of fantasy. Katherine's long hair streamed out behind her, creating the illusion of a mermaid who'd swum up from the depths of the ocean.

  Responding to her siren song, Paul cut through the space still separating them. He'd almost reached her when she whirled around and swam away, fast clean strokes sending her speeding ahead. Then she turned again, her teasing grin peeking past her snorkel.

  Despite her playfulness, there was an exciting sense of mystery about her. Paul increased his speed to catch up with her when she suddenly disappeared. For a moment he darted his gaze around in concern, afraid she'd come to harm.

  Then she appeared again, her smile tantalizing, beckoning him to follow. He enjoyed the sleek lines of her body as she swam ahead, her beauty eclipsing that of nature's underwater display. The fish wove a pattern around her, a screen of aquatic companions.

/>   As they continued swimming, surfacing regularly for air, Paul realized he could watch her all day. Some investigation, he told himself with disgust, knowing he wasn't furthering his cause by dallying underwater. Then he banished the thought, wanting to savor the moment, knowing the moments would soon be ending.

  Katherine disappeared again and he smiled, wondering what her next trick would be. A couple of long minutes passed and his smile faded. Moving with a speed born of apprehension, Paul cut through the water. He didn't know these waters, but he guessed something had trapped her. Twisting his head from side to side, he scanned the area, not seeing a trace of her. His heart was settling into a painful rhythm. He refused to let himself believe it was the same signal he'd felt about Matthew.

  Resisting the urge to panic, Paul swam a wider circle. His training kicked in, every instinct on alert as he searched in a methodical pattern. But his rapid pulse and straining lungs warned him that he was running out of time to find her.

  Then he spotted it.

  A glimpse of red, Katherine's bathing suit, one he had studied at length as they'd walked to the cove. Propelled by adrenaline, he was at her side in moments.

  And she wasn't teasing.

  The panic on her face was real as she pointed to her foot, wedged between two huge rocks.

  Not wasting a second, Paul acted. Briefly he grasped her arms, his eyes sending her a message of calm, knowing it was imperative she remain composed. Then he reached for the trapped foot.

  The rocks wouldn't budge. His heart slammed into his ribs as he struggled unsuccessfully to release her. Frantically he looked around and spotted a fallen branch. He swam back to it and dragged it to the rocks, then wedged the branch beneath the smaller rock, creating a lever. It took all of his strength, but the rock finally gave just enough for Katherine's foot to slip free.

  Then they were swimming upward in a burst of speed. They reached the surface, gasping for air.

  Once on land, Paul pulled her close and felt the trembling of her limbs as her shock receded. Her head fell limply against his shoulder.