Lullabies and Lies

by Mallory Kane

  “Yeah? Why would he think that?”

  Sunny pushed a lock of wet hair out of her eyes. Because he’d seen her putting Emily’s diaper bag in her car.

  She couldn’t tell Griff that. He would know immediately what she was planning to do. He’d know the kidnapper had contacted her again.

  Holding her breath to keep from sobbing, she reminded herself that as tempting as it was to trust him, she couldn’t. She had to get rid of him and the police as soon as possible, so she could get on the road to Philadelphia, to her baby. She’d lost too much time already.

  “He demanded I take him to Emily. I tried to explain that I have no idea where she is. That’s when he—” a shudder racked her body “—he said if I didn’t tell him, before he was finished with me I’d beg him to kill me.”

  Griff’s face darkened ominously. His jaw clenched. Turning on his heel, he stalked over to the front window. “The officer in charge will be in here in a minute. He can take your statement.”

  She stared at his broad back. His sport jacket and jeans were soaked, and clung to his lean, muscled body. His back was rigid, as if he was barely holding himself in check.

  She shivered and felt her breasts tighten. Looking down, she realized what her wet clothes revealed. Her nipples were clearly outlined through the thin material of her top.

  Oh no. She had on white slacks and thin silk bikini underwear. Everything—everything was probably visible through the wet transparent material. Her face burned. “I’m going upstairs to change.”

  “No.” Griff turned. His gaze raked her from head to foot, lingering at the apex of her thighs. He blinked, then met her eyes, new fire burning in his.

  Incredibly, Sunny felt her body react. She was terrified, still aching from Burt’s brutality, but Griff’s violet gaze stirred her.

  “I told you, the police have to check your clothes and—you for trace evidence.” His throat moved as he swallowed.

  Just as Sunny opened her mouth to ask if she could wait in the kitchen, a knock sounded on the door and the police were there.

  It was almost an hour before the last officer left, taking her wet clothes with him. She’d promised the officer in charge she’d come down to the station in the morning to file a report.

  By the time they left, her nerves were frayed to the breaking point. She surreptitiously glanced at the clock. Midnight.

  She had to get rid of Griff and get out of here. Emily was waiting.

  Just a little longer, she told herself. If she could stay calm just a little longer, Griff would leave, and she could get on the road to Philadelphia and her baby.

  Watching him take charge of the scene, directing the officers, her heart had yearned for his strength. But if she showed up with a lawman, the woman who had Emily would panic and run, and Sunny would lose her baby forever.

  As the last of the police cars pulled away and Griff walked back up the steps toward her, she blocked the doorway.

  “Thank you,” she said, putting on a mask of relief, as if the knowledge that Burt Means was locked up had calmed all her fears.

  He didn’t stop, didn’t acknowledge her gratitude. He stalked right past her into the house. With no other choice but to be overrun, she scrambled out of his way.

  Standing in her foyer, he pushed his wet hair back with both hands, and slung the water away.

  “All right. The police are gone. I want to know what the hell is going on.”

  She stared at him. “What—what do you mean?”

  He sent her a disgusted look. “You gave the officer a good story.”

  “A good story?” Fear skittered up her spine. Griffin Stone was too perceptive. Sometimes he terrified her.

  Griff scowled. “You lied to the officers. How did Means get inside? The door wasn’t forced, and I know you didn’t let him in.”

  “He—” She couldn’t think. “I’d gone outside. I was getting something out of my car.”

  His gaze drilled through her bravado. He was the enemy, standing between her and her baby. If she thought he would help her, she’d beg him. But he couldn’t, not with this. She had to rescue Emily alone.

  “Something out of your car,” he repeated derisively. “What?”

  Sunny was too tired and too beaten down to spar with him. At this moment, she couldn’t remember what she’d told the police.

  “My—my suitcase. I needed to unpack.”

  “Unpack.” His voice held a cold derision. His eyes were hard as amethysts.

  “Yes.” She raised her chin. “Like I told the officer, I’m a terrible procrastinator. That suitcase has been in the car for over a week, since—since a trip I took.” Her attempt at lying was a miserable failure. But she was desperate. She had to get rid of him and get on the road. Every minute wasted was a minute closer to too late.

  His eyes accused her. “Right. Your suitcase, your purse, your baby’s diaper bag. I listened to your statement.”

  She nodded, her heart pounding so loud she was sure he could hear it.

  He emitted a soft, sharp laugh and shook his head. “You’re a really bad liar, Ms. Loveless.”

  “I’m not lying.” Sunny clenched her teeth. “Now if you don’t mind, I’m tired.”

  He started toward her. She stepped aside, out of his way, but he didn’t head toward the door. He headed for her.

  He wrapped his fingers around her upper arms in a grip that was surprisingly gentle, and sat her down on the window seat, then dragged a chair over in front of her. Sitting down, he took her hands in his.

  Sunny shivered at their comforting warmth.

  “The kidnapper called you, didn’t he?”

  “No, I—” Sunny squeezed her eyes shut. He was so sure, so strong. And she was so tired. It was so hard not to just tell him everything and let him help her. She shook her head.

  His grip tightened. “Look at me.”

  She didn’t want to meet his gaze, but something in his voice, something in the way he cradled her hands in his, made her feel safe.

  “You may have fooled the officers, but you aren’t fooling me. I’ve been doing this for eight long years.” His expression was solemn.

  “You would never have opened your door to Burt Means. You were outside, and you weren’t getting anything out of your car in a rainstorm in the middle of the night. He caught you outside because you were putting something into your car. Your packed a suitcase, your purse and Emily’s diaper bag.”

  He rubbed his thumbs across her knuckles. “You were very lucky I was here. Otherwise, you might be in the clutches of a man who thinks you ruined his life and stole his child.”

  Sunny shuddered. He was too close. His hands holding hers felt too good. “What were you doing here?”

  “I called to see if you were okay. You didn’t answer.”

  Tears gathered in Sunny’s eyes. She tried to pull away, but he held on.

  “Now Means is out of the picture. He’ll go back to prison for violating his parole. The police will check on him and Brittany, but I think you’re right. He doesn’t have Emily. The kidnappers called you, didn’t they?”

  “No, I—”

  “Can the act, okay? I know you didn’t receive a call on your house phone, or the police would have been notified. So the kidnapper called your cell phone. He gave you a meeting place or a drop place for the money. And of course he told you not to go to the police or the FBI.”

  “Please don’t,” she whispered. “Just leave me alone.”

  “I can’t.” Griff’s intense violet gaze never wavered. “How did he get your cell phone number?”

  She stiffened and tried to pull away. “I don’t know.”

  Griff let go of her hands. He didn’t want to bruise her. He’d hurt her enough.

  She stood and turned around, folding her arms and bowing her slender shoulders. She’d changed her clothes, but her wet hair still hung in waves down past her collar.

  Her muffled, anguished sobs ripped at his soul. He’d told her the t
ruth. He’d been at this a long time. He’d comforted parents, reassured families and had borne the brunt of their fearful, helpless anger. But Sunny Loveless was worming herself into his heart in a way no one else ever had.

  Something about her touched a sore, raw place deep inside him. A place he’d thought had scabbed over when he was fourteen.

  Without considering the consequences, he reached for her. He slid his arm around her shoulders, prepared to offer the same reassurance he’d given time and time again in the past to so many terrified family members.

  But as soon as his arm encircled her, the tension in her body melted and she turned toward him, her head bowed.

  He pulled her closer, until she laid her cheek against his neck.

  Griff bent his head, burying his nose in her wet hair. For a moment he stood quietly, feeling less alone than he’d ever felt. He squeezed his eyes shut.

  This was an illusion and he had to get back to reality. “Emily had your cell number somewhere on her, didn’t she? Was it sewn into her clothes? Engraved on one of her toys? Or maybe on a little bracelet?”

  Sunny stiffened and pushed against his chest. Her silence confirmed his guess.

  “I’m here to help you. I know how these people work.”

  She stepped backward, out of his reach, and hugged herself tightly.

  “I don’t want your help,” she choked out. “I don’t want the police’s help. Can’t you just leave me alone? Don’t you have to go away if I don’t want you?”

  Chapter Six

  If I don’t want you. The words hit Griff surprisingly hard.

  “No.” He scowled, pushing away from her. “Kidnapping is a federal offense. It doesn’t matter whether you want me or not. I don’t have to go away. I can’t. I’m bound by law to do everything possible to recover your child.” He rubbed his chest. Her pain kept seeping past his defenses.

  He cared about every case. He’d wept at the Senator’s son’s funeral. But he’d always managed to maintain a discreet distance from their deepest grief, so it wouldn’t cloud his judgment.

  But not this time.

  Sunny’s obstinacy and determination to protect her daughter ripped at his battle-scarred heart.

  “Ms. Loveless, I know how frightened you are—” he started, his voice gruff.

  She whirled, swinging her doubled fists at him. “No you don’t! You can’t possibly know. She said these people are dangerous. They’re capable of anything!”

  “She?”

  She shoved at him. “If you won’t help me, get out of my way!”

  In self-defense, Griff reached for her again, pinning her flailing arms to her sides.

  “Let go of me!”

  She fought his restraint with surprising strength.

  “Shh,” he whispered. “Shh. We’ll find her. We’ll save your baby. I swear.”

  “No you won’t. You’ll go bumbling in with your guns and sirens and the woman will run. I have to go alone.”

  “What woman, Sunny? Who is she? Where is she? Tell me. Let me help you.”

  She shook her head, flinging droplets of water from her hair into his face and over his arms.

  “I don’t know. All I know is—” She stopped dead still, then jerked away. “Let me go!”

  He pulled her closer, his heart pounding at the feel of her supple body in his arms. The connection he’d felt between them the first moment he’d laid eyes on her warred with his sense of duty. He was bound by his badge to find her child, and he knew the best way to do that was to follow procedure, to use the FBI’s tried-and-true methods and sophisticated technology. They worked.

  Not always. Senator Chapman’s ravaged face rose in his mind, and right behind it came the photo on his computer—the last picture he had of his baby sister.

  Sunny quit struggling and went limp in his arms. She’d given up. He drew a deep, relieved breath. She was exhausted. She’d had next to no sleep since her baby had disappeared, and Means’s attack had drained the last dregs of her energy.

  But the thought of her admitting defeat cloaked him with unbearable sadness. He knew what she was feeling. The helplessness, the struggle against forces larger and stronger than she.

  Damn it. He gritted his teeth. Why was it so easy to empathize with her? Why was he having to bite his tongue to keep from throwing logic to the wind and going with her to search for her child? He’d never considered anything like that before.

  It had to be the city, and the memories it evoked.

  “Emily needs me,” she whispered against his neck, her breath warm, her tears at first hot, then quickly cooling against his sensitized skin.

  The soft pressure of her breasts against his chest and the clean wet scent of her hair tickling his cheek sent his blood surging. It was all he could do to keep from pressing a kiss to her temple.

  To his dismay and disgust, his body hardened and stirred to life.

  What a jerk he was, to react physically to her. She was a victim of a horrendous crime. She deserved his professionalism, his calm assurance and his help. Clenching his jaw, he gripped her upper arms and set her away from him.

  She eyed him suspiciously. “Are you letting me go?” Her voice rose hopefully. She edged toward the door.

  Meeting her tormented gaze, he felt something deep inside him crack, like a fissure running through an iceberg.

  What he’d told Decker in the letter he’d left on his desk was true. He couldn’t do this job anymore. It had become too personal.

  He shook his head in defeat. “Sunny, I’ll help you.”

  “I can’t take the chance. The police will—”

  “Sunny, listen. I mean me. I’ll help you. We’ll go together. Alone.”

  Her eyes widened, then narrowed. “I don’t understand.”

  Neither did he. He’d had one dream ever since his sister’s disappearance. To become an FBI agent. He’d thought helping others would assuage his guilt and grief. And now he was about to step outside his own boundaries to chase a slender thread of hope for a woman he’d only known three days.

  Whose hope was he trying to keep alive? Hers—or his own?

  It was here, in Nashville, where he’d learned that holding on to hope could consume one’s life. Was he dooming Sunny to the same sad fate? To years of charting the similarities in missing child cases? To sleepless nights devouring every tidbit of the latest abduction on the news channels? All in the forlorn belief that one day, one of those cases might provide a clue to the whereabouts of her child.

  “Griff? What are you talking about? What do you mean you’ll go with me?”

  He rubbed his jaw and shrugged, working to act as if his decision was nothing more than an assessment of the situation, made through deliberation, not emotion.

  “I’ve been thinking about what you said. You’re right. Too much attention could spook the kidnapper. I think in this situation discretion might be better. If you’ll trust me, I’ll help you find Emily.”

  Sunny searched his face. For a second, the private sadness she’d seen in his eyes the first time she’d met him was back. Something haunted him. Was it the ghosts of all the children he hadn’t been able to save?

  Despite her fear for her baby’s safety, her easy compassion was stirred. He seemed driven by a private grief. Or was she merely transferring her own feelings to him? Maybe for him, it really was just a job—or maybe an obsession. Maybe he was one of those people who could not accept failure.

  His reasons didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered was whether she could trust him. What if she told him what she knew—gave him the woman’s telephone number? Would he honor his promise? Would he help her? And did his definition of help match hers?

  “Sunny? Will you trust me to go with you?”

  Emily’s pretty little face rose in her mind, innocent, wide-eyed, trusting. Her throat closed.

  Sending up a prayer that she was doing the right thing, she squeezed her eyes shut for an instant, then nodded slowly, solemnly. “I don�
��t have any choice.”

  “WELL NOW, this is interesting.” Hiram couldn’t believe his eyes, or his luck.

  He’d spent the evening lurking around the hotel where the FBI agent was staying, hoping he could get a chance to break into the agent’s car. There had to be something in there that would tell him how much the agent knew, especially about Hiram’s own involvement in the Loveless infant case.

  But after it had started raining he’d holed up in his car, waiting for the deluge to stop. After about a half hour, he’d been ready to give up for the night. But just as he reached for the ignition switch, the agent had come running out.

  At first Hiram had slunk down in his seat, scared silly that the man had spotted him and was coming after him. But he’d headed straight for his car, jumped in and taken off.

  Hiram looked at the clock on his dashboard. It was late. Where was the agent going? After a moment’s hesitation while he debated whether to follow or sneak into his room while he was gone, Hiram’s curiosity won out. He started the car and tailed the agent.

  It didn’t take long for Hiram to realize that he was headed toward Sunny Loveless’s house. Hiram’s blood pressure rose, and he could hear his pulse hammering in his ears.

  To avoid being seen, Hiram parked several houses away.

  After watching for a while, he figured out that the agent had surprised an intruder at Ms. Loveless’s house. Then the police showed up with their sirens blaring, and lights popped on up and down the street. Hiram nearly fled, but all attention was concentrated on Sunny Loveless’s house. Nobody noticed his old car.

  If he had to guess, he’d bet that the man the police hauled away was Burt Means, the baby’s biological father.

  Then, the police took off, but the FBI agent didn’t.

  Afraid to move any closer, Hiram waited, squinting through the rain and wiping the fogged window glass with his handkerchief. He could barely make out shadowy movements behind the home’s sheer curtains. Movements that indicated that the two people in the house were close—very close.