Lullabies and Lies

by Mallory Kane

  A DULL HEADACHE was hammering inside Griff’s skull by the time he got to the hospital. The call had come through about a half hour ago.

  Sunny had Bess’s journal. She’d turned it over to the police officer who had driven them back to town. The officer had called Captain Sparks, and Sparks had told Griff.

  They called off the search of Bess’s house.

  Jane’s interrogation had to wait until morning, because she’d immediately demanded a lawyer. Griff needed to take a look at Bess’s journal, and he still had to file his report. But first, he wanted to make sure Sunny was all right.

  He pushed open the door into the intensive care waiting room, where he’d been told Sunny was waiting with Mia.

  Sunny had her back to the door and was holding Emily. Bess’s daughter, Mia, was sitting next to her, letting the baby grab at her finger. Both of them were laughing softly.

  A shard of pain dulled by happiness for Sunny lodged in Griff’s heart. He couldn’t help but smile at her melodic laughter.

  Dear God, he was going to miss her.

  As the door swung shut behind him, Sunny turned her head. Her emerald-green eyes lit up when she saw him. She bent and kissed Emily’s face and handed her over to Mia.

  Then she rose and turned toward Griff.

  He smiled at her and gave a little nod as his throat clogged with emotion. This was what he had promised her. And no rescue, no triumph, no solved case had ever come close to how he felt now, knowing she and her baby were safe and reunited.

  Sunny’s face lit in a tremulous smile and she flew into his arms, startling him with her ferocity.

  He pulled her tightly to him, cradling the back of her head and pressing his nose into her hair.

  “Oh, Griff, how can I ever—”

  “Shh. You did it. You found Emily. You got your happy ending.”

  He felt a sob shudder through her.

  “Is everything okay? How’s she doing?”

  Sunny pulled back enough to look into his eyes, and the sheer happiness that surrounded her like a bright glow sent his heart soaring.

  Then before his eyes, she became somber.

  “Sunny, what’s the matter? Isn’t Emily all right?”

  Sunny nodded. “She’s wonderful. And she’s dying to meet her valiant rescuer.”

  Then she put her palm against his cheek. “But there’s someone else you need to meet first.” Her voice quavered, but her eyes glittered with anticipation.

  Griff frowned. “Yeah? Who?” Why was she acting so strangely?

  Sunny stepped out of the circle of his arms and turned toward Mia. Griff followed her gaze.

  The teenager had secured Emily in her infant carrier and was cooing at her.

  “Mia. Come here. There’s someone I want you to meet.”

  Mia looked up, then picked up the carrier and stepped around the couch.

  Sunny took Emily.

  Griff watched them with an odd sense of apprehension. He rubbed the aching spot in the middle of his chest as he looked at Bess’s daughter.

  “Griff?” Sunny’s voice was choked.

  He glanced at her and saw tears filling her eyes. She smiled.

  “Sunny, what is it—?” The burning in his chest increased.

  He looked back at Mia. She had the careless beauty of a teenager. Flawless skin, dark, shiny hair, but she also was oddly familiar. High cheekbones, wide mouth, large, dark-lashed eyes. Then he met her gaze.

  Shock ripped through him. He almost staggered under the impact.

  His first thought—damn. His first thought was ridiculous. What the hell was wrong with him?

  He tore his gaze away from the violet eyes staring back at him and looked questioningly, fearfully, at Sunny. “What’s going on?” He heard the note of panic that was fast stealing his breath.

  Sunny’s tear-streaked face beamed like an angel. “Griff. Mia is Marianne. Your sister.”

  “No!” Stunned, he held up his hands to ward off the cruel joke. He squeezed his eyes shut. “What the hell are you saying?”

  “Griff. It’s true. Believe me.”

  Sunny’s lilting voice floated around him. He wanted to swing his fists at it. To stop it.

  He steeled himself, then met Mia’s gaze again. She was still looking at him as if he were some insanely famous rock star or something. Her jewel-like gaze never wavered.

  Suddenly, he couldn’t see. His own eyes were full of tears.

  He’d never cried, not even when he’d lost her. Not when he’d thought he’d failed Sunny. Never.

  He put out a shaking hand and Mia stepped toward him. Her face was wet with tears, her outstretched fingers trembling.

  Their fingers touched, and Griff’s breath caught in a sob. He pulled her to him. She wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him tightly.

  And he cried.

  SUNNY WAITED NERVOUSLY for Griff in their hotel room. He’d called about ten minutes before to ask if it was okay if he came by to shower and change.

  Mia had insisted on staying at the hospital with her mother, and Griff had stayed with her.

  In her carrier, Emily emitted a quiet sigh. She’d had a long day. Sunny had held her until she squirmed and whined. Then she’d reluctantly put her in her carrier, where Emily had immediately gone to sleep.

  Now Sunny paced. She’d tried to lie down, but she hadn’t even been able to close her eyes. She was too keyed up.

  She was worried about Griff. She’d watched him when he’d realized Mia truly was his sister. He’d turned pale as a ghost. His eyes had streamed tears, and his face had nearly crumpled.

  Nearly.

  Something was wrong and she knew it. He’d been quiet and withdrawn afterward, as he and Mia talked.

  Feeling as if she was intruding, Sunny had insisted on taking a taxi from the hospital to the hotel. Once she’d closed the door to her room, she’d hugged Emily and wept, spilling out all the tension of the past six days, until she’d ended up too tired to cry any longer.

  She heard the unmistakable sound of a plastic key card tripping an electronic lock. Griff was here.

  She stopped pacing and stared at the door as it opened slowly.

  His hair was still a mess. His face under a day’s worth of stubble was drawn and pale. His eyes shone darkly. He closed the door, and slowly raised his head. But he never quite met her gaze. His face appeared haunted.

  “Griff? Are you okay?”

  He didn’t answer. He shrugged out of the wrinkled sport coat he’d worn all day, and began to unbutton his shirt, heading for the bathroom.

  “Griff?”

  “I’m going to shower now.” His voice was hoarse. He closed the door to the bathroom and she heard the shower come on.

  Behind her, she heard Emily whimper, then start to cry. Sunny hurried over to the infant carrier and picked up her baby. “Hi, sweetie. I didn’t mean to wake you.” She bounced her gently in her arms. “It’s been a long day, hasn’t it?” She touched her lips to Emily’s downy head and breathed deeply of her sweet, baby-powder scent.

  In almost no time, Griff came out of the bathroom dressed in his jeans with his shirt open. His chest and abdomen glistened with dampness, and his hair was spiked where he’d toweled it dry. His eyes were rimmed with red as his gaze roamed over her and lingered on Emily. His brows drew down.

  “Thanks.”

  “This is your room.”

  Emily whimpered.

  “How is she?”

  Sunny smiled. “She’s fine. Griff, I never got a chance to thank you.”

  He stepped closer and peered down at the baby. He touched her tiny hand with one finger, and gently ran his thumb along her downy hairline. His shoulders bowed and he hung his head.

  A drop of water, or a tear, splashed on Sunny’s forearm.

  “Griff, what’s the matter?” Sunny asked, apprehension clogging the back of her throat. He was acting so odd.

  He didn’t answer.

  “How—how did it go with
Mia?”

  He shook his head. “Mia. Marianne. My sis—” He stopped and cleared his throat. “I’d given up hope.”

  “No, you hadn’t. I didn’t know what you were searching for, but your belief gave me the hope to go on.”

  “You’ve been remarkably strong through all of this,” he said gruffly.

  “No, it was you—”

  “You know I never believed in your happy endings. I’ve seen a lot of happiness and a lot of heartache in my work. You must have gotten a kick out of discovering that Mia is my sister.”

  Sunny shook her head, but before she could say anything else, Griff continued, still looking down at Emily.

  “When she was Emily’s age, I changed her diapers. I taught her to say her name. She couldn’t say it quite right. It always came out Me-ann. I guess that’s where Mia came from.”

  “What’s she going to do now?”

  He sighed and glanced up briefly. “Bess Raymond’s testimony will bring closure to a lot of people. I doubt, with her age and illness, that she’ll have to do any time.” He smiled sadly. “Mia is her daughter. That’s not going to change.”

  “But you’ll see her. You’ll get to know her, let her get to know you.”

  He nodded, his eyes bright with tears. Then he blinked and looked back at Emily. He held out his finger and Emily grabbed it. He made a small, anguished sound and gently pulled away. When he met her gaze again, his unleashed pain streaked through her.

  “This isn’t about Mia, is it?” Sunny’s throat closed up. She tried to swallow. “What’s the matter?”

  Sighing, he ran a palm over his clean-shaven face and took a step away from her. “I tried so hard not to love you.”

  Love you. She blinked. Had she heard right? Pain stabbed her in the middle of her chest.

  He shook his head. “I always managed to stay away from the families’ deepest sadness and their greatest joys. I thought if I ever let myself feel all that, I’d—” he swallowed, then shrugged and lowered his gaze “—I’d fall into some kind of bottomless pit and be lost forever. Lord knows hovering on the edge of it was bad enough.”

  Sunny couldn’t stop the smile that softened her lips. She’d have sworn her heart couldn’t swell any more, it was so full of love and relief and happiness. But apparently the heart’s capacity for love was infinite, because she loved Griff.

  “Now you have your happy ending,” she whispered. “And you didn’t fall into the pit.”

  “Not yet.” He looked away and wiped his eyes. “I never met anyone who compares with you. You found my heart. I didn’t even know it was still—” He stopped. His jaw flexed.

  He sniffed and blinked. Then he held out his hand.

  She took a step toward him and waited.

  His face began to relax, and his beautiful violet eyes never wavered.

  Finally his mouth turned up in a little smile. “I love you—” His voice broke.

  Sunny shifted Emily to her other side and stepped into the circle of Griff’s arms. “I love you, too,” she whispered. “I think I’ve loved you a long time.”

  Griff’s lips were against her ear. “I know what you mean.”

  Then he ran his lips across her cheek and kissed her. Sunny’s insides turned to hot flowing lava as their kiss deepened and heated.

  He pulled her against him, holding her in the circle of his safe, strong, sexy body, with Emily tucked between them. The baby waved her arms and Griff let her grab his finger.

  “Now,” he whispered against her lips. “If you’ll marry me, we can have our very own happy ending.”

  “Oh, Griff.” Sunny laughed. Then she thought about what marriage would mean.

  “Will we have to move to Washington, D.C.?”

  Griff watched the baby, his eyes dark and soft. “No. I turned in my resignation before I left, remember? Decker knows I’m quitting.”

  “You’re going to stay in Nashville?”

  “I grew up there. And it’s where you are.” He kissed her cheek, then nipped at her ear, sending shivers through her.

  “But what are you going to do?”

  “I was kind of hoping Loveless, Inc. might have an opening.”

  “For a ‘happy endings’ detective?”

  He bent and kissed Emily’s tiny fingers. “You take the happy endings cases. I’ll be the hard-boiled private eye.”

  “So…Loveless and Stone?”

  “Stone and Loveless.” He kissed her gently.

  “We’ll negotiate,” she whispered against his lips.

  “Now this is a happy ending.”

  Emily giggled.

  Sunny shook her head. “Not a happy ending, a happy beginning.”

  ISBN: 978-1-4592-2876-4

  LULLABIES AND LIES

  Copyright © 2006 by Rickey R. Mallory

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.

  All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

  This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

  ® and TM are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.

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  * Ultimate Agents

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Dedication

  About the Author

  Books by Mallory Kane

  Cast of Characters

  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Copyright