“Sorry,” he said. “It’s not a pretty sight, is it?”
She blinked and glanced back as he covered his right side with his t-shirt. “No, it’s…” she stopped. She had been so focused on the strength and view of his bare body she had not really noticed the criss-cross of scars that ran down his right side. “It’s not the scars; I mean the accident must have been awful, but…” She was rambling, she knew, so she just slammed her mouth shut. Her reaction had been to his overall body, not the scars, but how could she explain that without looking like a worse fool?
“That’s enough for today,” he said in a crisp tone. “Let’s get back to work.”
****
The days began to fall into a predictable pattern. Fearing her mother might show up, Stacey left a message on both her mother’s and Phil’s voice mail that she was moving to a new job in Seattle and would call them when she got settled. Not that she could leave. Her car remained in the shop so she was confined to Redfern Manor. The house continued to make her uneasy. A couple of times she heard noises on the third floor, but saw no more strange lights or strangers outside by the burned carriage house area. Every time she turned the handle on the door to the stairs, it was locked.
She went through several more letters from Helen but they didn’t reveal any critical information. The interviews were with people who knew Lily from the Purple Chariot. The women weren’t close to her and two accused her of trying to steal their boyfriends. All of the men claimed they’d slept with her. Stacey didn’t like the picture she got of Lily from the letters, but it made her more of a possible Greenlee victim. If she was into casual sex, perhaps she’d hooked up with him just like the other women he’d killed.
Stacey placed the letters into various files and pretended to find them for Mack. Most of her days were spent sorting through the boxes and typing up dictation and transcripts of Mack’s interviews. She loved listening to the soft rich tones of his voice, but the interviews were boring. He’d talked to Lily’s teachers and friends, but they made Lily seem so bland. Why was he so fascinated with this colorless character? Even his Hollywood interviews with her old director and several cast mates didn’t shed as much light on her as Helen’s interviews.
Her own attempts to find out about Lily ended in disaster—like her discussion with Del. She’d gone to the greenhouse hoping to read more of Helen’s letters. He came in as she finished.
“You lookin’ for me?” he asked.
She had no reason to be there so she fingered a nearby tulip. “I was just admiring the flowers.”
“Sure. I figured you wanted me to drive you somewhere since you don’t have your car. That Helen was always goin’ somewhere. If she didn’t have gas she’d hitch a ride or make me take her. But I ain’t no chauffeur.”
“I’m not like Helen,” she said, feeling disloyal to her friend. “I was just thinking you do a great job with these flowers. The house always smells so good.”
“You trying to butter me up?” he asked, giving her a skeptical glance. “Like Helen?”
“Did she ask you about Lily?”
“Why should she? I didn’t know Lily.”
“What about Ray?”
He turned to her, his face darkening, eyes narrowed. “What the hell business of that is yours?”
“I understand you’re Ray’s cousin, and he knew her.”
“It ain’t no one’s business. Lily ruined Ray. If that guy hadn’t killed her…” He stopped as though realizing he’d said too much.
“Did you tell that to Helen?”
Del threw up his hands in anger. “You get out of here. I got no time for you. And don’t be telling Mr. Mack I was rude either. Helen threatened to get me fired, but she learned that ain’t gonna happen. You do your job and let me do mine. And leave Ray alone. What happened between him and Lily was years ago. You mess with him, you’ll learn a lesson you don’t wanna learn!”
The confrontation left her shaking. Had Helen found Ray and angered him? Could he have had something to do with Lily’s death? Was he the angry boyfriend mentioned in the landlady’s comments? Stacey wanted to see Helen’s notes again but she couldn’t ask for them. She was beginning to understand what Helen had been up against. What had she discovered and could it have played a role in her death?
****
Mack’s frown as he examined the pages she had just finished typing soured Stacey’s already fluttering stomach. What could be wrong with them? She’d worked so hard on that dictation and run it through spell check.
“Is…something wrong?” she finally asked. “Did I miss something?”
He shook his head. “No. I was quoting from some of John’s notes and this doesn’t make sense.” He took out a pen and circled something on the pages. “There’s a problem with the time. Greenlee met all his victims shortly after he got off work at nine. According to this, Lily’s landlady put her at home that night until one. It means Lily couldn’t have met Greenlee the night she was killed. Maybe Helen got the time wrong. That’s what I get for trusting an amateur. I’ll have to call the woman back.”
Blaming Helen again. But at least whatever was disturbing him was not Stacey’s fault. Some of the sourness dissolved. “I could do that.”
“No,” he replied, voice firm. “I’ll do it. I’m not taking any more chances.” He picked up another stack of papers.
Stacey went back to her work, but her nerves felt on edge and the pages blurred before her eyes.
“Good!” he said suddenly and her head jerked up.
“What?”
“You got quite a bit done. I didn’t expect you to finish transcribing all that dictation. You are fast.”
Stacey’s breath caught as she stared at him. They’d been working so close together for the past few days and the surge of warmth that rushed through her surprised her. What kept happening to her? His approval and the smile that creased his full lips often sent a strange spark of awareness through her that left her feeling weightless. And it was happening more and more every day. “Thank you.”
He gave the page another quick glance and winked at her. “You know, I might actually want to keep your around.”
The strange spark smoldering inside her erupted into a full-fledged brush fire. She stared at his face, at the warmth that glowed in his blue eyes. His lips were turned up in a full grin and she could see his white teeth through his slightly parted pink full lips. For a crazy instant she wondered what it would be like to have those lips touch hers. Would they be warm, enticing? Oh, rats, they already were.
Her breath caught and she jerked her head down. His sudden chuckle that rumbled through him only made her feel warmer, like a simmering fire was developing inside her, smoldering and growing. Oh, rats, oh rats, oh rats!
****
That morning was just the beginning of a frightening new awareness of Mack. Not that she’d been immune to him before but she was getting into new territory for her. She’d never been so aware of a man. In some ways, these crazy sensations that erupted every time she was around Mack made her think her relationship with Phil had been downright cold. She was no blushing virgin, but her nights with Phil had never made her feel as warm as one glance from Mack could. Every time she looked at Mack’s large hands, she wondered what it would be like to be touched by him and it made her insides grow liquid at times. Phil had never done that.
The next evening she found Mack sitting in front of a blazing fire in the drawing room. He stared into the flames, arms crossed, body stiff. She hesitated, but he turned and saw her in the doorway. A flicker of surprise crossed his stern features.
“Stacey, I didn’t hear you come in.”
“I’m sorry. I…uh, just wanted to get a book,” she said, gesturing at the book case along the back wall. She had heard Peg upstairs and thought he’d gone over to the mainland so she’d have the lower area to herself for once. She hadn’t heard him return.
He waved at the empty wing chair across from him. “Please don’t le
t me chase you away. Sitting in front of the fire can be quite soothing.” He didn’t look that relaxed. He wore a light blue dress shirt and loosened burgundy tie and the wool slacks from a charcoal suit.
She sank onto the chair, uncertain what to say. She chewed on her lower lip to keep from blurting something stupid.
Mack leaned back in the chair and a smile slid across his lips. In the glow of the fire, a soft glow seemed to come into his eyes. “It gets lonely living here with just my sister for company. I always realize that when I go off the island. Tell me about yourself.”
She shrugged. “There’s not much to say…”
“Nonsense. Tell me about your drawing. How long have you been an artist?”
To her surprise there seemed an honest interest in his eyes, which had gone to a soft blue shade, sort of like an inviting lake in the summer time in the Cascade Mountains.
“Oh, as long as I can recall.”
“And Kendra?”
Stacey smiled at his recollection of her heroine. “She grew up with me. She’s always had fabulous adventures.” A rush of heat crossed her face. Hopefully the light was low enough in the room that he couldn’t see the red color invading her face. This morning she’d drawn Kendra with a new man in her life. A tall, fierce blond warrior with bright eyes and full lips and a charming grin. Kendra was falling in love!
His chuckle made her cheeks grow warmer. “I like that idea. What about you? Do you have adventures?”
“Oh, no! I’m just…me. Dull, boring.”
He shook his head. “No. Something tells me you’re far from boring. Something tells me there’s more hiding behind your Kendra drawings.”
She shook her head. “I don’t understand.”
“Come on, Stacey, don’t we all have something we try to hide? What is your secret?”
The fire crackled, and she jumped. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Uh-huh,” he said with a mocking laugh.
She turned to him. “What about you? What are your secrets?”
He turned back to the fire and his jaw tightened. The scar along the side of his face cast a shadow along the lower right side, and the scar beside his upper brow seemed to grow as his forehead wrinkled into a frown. “You don’t want to know my secrets. They’re too dark.”
She looked down at her hands, unable to face him. “It must be tough to lose someone close to you.”
“Damn tough. It rips at your insides. Until your heart feels like it’s about to be ripped out by powerful hands. Hopefully you’ll never lose someone…”
“I…lost a friend…” The words seemed to tumble from her mouth before she could stop them. “One minute she was there and…then she was gone.”
“An accident?”
She nodded, her breath coming a little faster.
“So you know about regrets. Things you wish you’d said. Things you wish you hadn’t.”
She looked up at Mack and in that moment she knew he wasn’t the hard man she’d been fearing since she arrived. This was a man with deep feelings who had been hurt when he lost his wife and child. No wonder he still wore his wedding band. Her heart lurched.
He reached over and touched the top of her hand. “I’m sorry. I’m being morbid.”
“No, I think of her all the time. She was like Kendra. Alive, exciting…”
“Is she your model for Kendra?”
“Yes.”
He studied her until she grew uncomfortable and looked away, focusing on the leaping flames in the fireplace.
“Enough feeling morose. We need to compose an adventure where Kendra becomes a goddess of goodness, sort of like you.”
“Me?” A pleasant streak of surprise raced through her.
“Bright and sunny,” he said with a crooked smile.
Stacey’s face remained warm, but now her insides were catching fire too. “Is that how you see me?”
“Aren’t you?”
It was how she wanted to be, but that was more how she saw Helen.
“I’m going to assign Kenny to work with you tomorrow,” he added. “To help you with your adventure. He has lots of great ideas and he likes you. That’s how you can always tell a good person. Kids are great judges.”
Her gaze slid around the dimly lit room with its austere antiques and dark furniture. “What about you? How can we brighten up your life?”
Again, the frown transformed him into a brooding gothic hero from a Kendra adventure. “I’m sorry, young Stacey. I don’t think that’s possible.”
Stacey leaned toward him, wishing she could share some of the warmth he engendered within her with him. “Yes, it is. You say everyone is hiding some dark secret, well, I say everyone has something bright inside them. A little ray of sunshine they may be hiding. They just need help bringing it out. Maybe that’s what you need. Kenny likes you too.”
His gaze met hers and moved over her face, but in those brief seconds she could see it softening. Her heart did a wild flip flop as though it was a giant pancake inside her chest. The fingers of his left hand reached out and a gentle finger tip stroked the edge of her cheek and traced a slow line to her lips. The thudding in her chest became a wild thumping of her heart and her breath caught in an audible gasp.
The corners of his lips quirked into a smile and Mack leaned toward her. For a crazy second she thought he might be going to kiss her, but he suddenly took a deep breath and dropped his hand. He jerked to his feet, moving away, his limp pronounced. “Sorry, Stacey, I don’t think I’ll ever find anything bright enough to light the darkness inside me.”
Feeling as though she was in a trance, Stacey rose and caught his right arm. “Mack, wait.”
It was a breathless plea and she feared he might pull away from her. Instead, he looked down at her and their gaze held for a crazy, heart stopping minute. As she stared at him, she felt like she wanted to lift that shadow over his heart. To make him see the good things, to stop him from spending his time with a ghost. Was that dark shadow why he was so focused on Lily Feeney?
“Mack…I would like…” she said with a strangled voice, unable to vocalize what she wanted to say.
He put his fingers on her hand, and she feared he meant to remove it but instead he pressed them against her skin and then lifted his hand to take hold of her face again.
This time when he started to lean toward her she didn’t wait. Stacey pressed toward him, lifting her mouth to his. The touch of his lips was soft against hers and with a groan in his chest, his arm came around her pulling her to him.
She wrapped her arms around his neck, opening her lips to his, letting his moist tongue slide inside her mouth. She felt tingly all over like she was about to become a five foot column of hot liquid flowing down onto the floor. Her moan surprised her and she almost giggled, but instead she pushed against him, feeling the strength in his hard body against her.
A sudden thump on the floor above them stopped them both.
He drew back as though someone had stepped between them and Stacey almost slid to the floor. He caught her arms in his, righting her…
“Ghosts?” he asked with a sly smile.
“Maybe… but this time you heard it too at least.”
He nodded and pulled back further. “I’m sorry. That was out of line. We can’t do this, not if we have to work together.” He turned and moved away from her to the edge of the fire place. “Good night, Stacey.”
She wanted to go to him, to say she didn’t care if he was her boss. But the fire inside her burned so fiercely she feared saying or doing something totally stupid—like yanking off her clothes and begging him to make love to her right there on the floor in front of the fire.
She’d never been so forward with a man as she had been when she pressed herself to him.
With fears of unleashing her crazy thoughts, she dropped her head and hurried to the door in quick steps.
As she hopped up the steps with her insides still flaming, she could almost hear Helen laughing.
>
“Stacey, you nut, you’re falling in love with Mack Warren.”
Chapter Seven
Thump!
The sudden sound jerked Stacey out of a sound sleep. She sat up in bed and looked at the ceiling of her room. Her heart was already pounding from the startling noise but a sudden scraping above her like the scraping of a chair made it pound harder. What in the world?
“Mack?” she called, but there was only silence and the scraping stopped. She pulled the sheet up over her arms, feeling a sudden chill. Looking down, she made a face. She wore the rose colored silk gown and she felt silly all of a sudden. Imagine if Mack was to answer her or even to knock at her door at that minute! What would she tell him? She’d been so overcome by his kiss the night before she’d gone to bed with crazy, romantic thoughts in her head? Inappropriate thoughts, she decided now in the light of day.
Quickly she rose from her bed, keeping an eye on the ceiling. Was someone up there? Maybe she needed to check. She pulled on her robe and tiptoed to the door. She yanked it open just as Mack opened his door and stepped into the hall. He wore a forest green turtleneck over dark slacks and his blond hair was neatly combed. She sucked in a breath at how together he could look so early in the morning. He looked down the hall at her and cleared his throat.
“Good morning,” he said in a crisp tone, lowering his gaze immediately. “I’m going downstairs to get coffee, but I’ll be working up here the rest of the day.”
Was that because he felt as silly as she did over their close moments the previous night? Heck, she was still having them, drinking in his appearance like warm morning cocoa.
As he drew closer and she didn’t reply, his brow furrowed. “Something wrong?”
Licking her lips, as her throat became parched, she pointed at the ceiling. “I thought I heard something up there.”
He looked up and then rolled his eyes and shook his head. “You’re dreaming,” he said curtly. He drew closer, studying her and then stopped and turned away, color rising in his cheeks. She looked down and realized her robe had fallen open and he could see the flimsy rose gown.
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