The Mysterious Stranger (Triple Trouble)

by Susan Mallery

  Fallon stared at him, not sure what to think. She’d expected some kind of tragedy in his past. A love affair gone wrong. But never this.

  “How horrible,” she said slowly.

  “It was. I blamed myself for a long time, although except for not starting the affair, I’m not sure what I could have done differently. I lost lots of personal things in that fire. Pictures of my parents, a couple of collections that had meant a lot to me. Yet none of that mattered. In the end, I’d grown to hate Charlotte, yet I never wished her ill. I would have done anything to bring her back.”

  “That’s when you moved here, isn’t it?” she asked. “This is your refuge. They can’t get to you here.”

  “Exactly. We’d just finished construction on the resort. It wasn’t difficult to keep the workers around and build this house. They had it done in a couple of months. I’ve been here ever since.”

  “Do you ever go back to the States?”

  “A few times a year. On business. I don’t want to move back, though.”

  “I guess there are all those unhappy memories to deal with.” She thought about what she’d heard. “There was very little in the articles. Did you deliberately keep the story from the press?”

  “Yes. Charlotte had family. They’d tried to stop her, too. I didn’t want to make it more difficult for them. My house was out in the country, so it’s not as if she set Fifth Avenue on fire. I paid off a couple of reporters and that took care of it.”

  The woman had stalked Jarrett and made his life miserable, yet after her death he went out of his way to make sure her family wasn’t haunted by the media. “No wonder she loved you,” Fallon murmured.

  “What?”

  She shook her head. “Nothing. I was just thinking you were kind to her family.”

  “They hadn’t done anything wrong. Why should they suffer, too?” He looked uncomfortable. “I didn’t tell you this to get the sympathy vote, just to explain why I was a little paranoid when you first showed up.”

  She gazed at him, at the strength in his face, and the pain. For the first time since she’d met him, she could see the stark misery in his expression. It wasn’t obvious, but its shadow lurked on the edges of his life.

  “It does make sense, Jarrett. I appreciate you trusting me with this information. You have my word I won’t share it with anyone. Not even my sisters. I’m glad we cleared everything up and can be friends now.”

  “Are we friends?”

  The question surprised her. “I hope so.”

  “Me, too. Imagine my chagrin when you’re not only not a gold digger, but you have an inheritance all your own.”

  She smiled. “I think comparing my trust fund to your fortune is like comparing the acorn to the mighty oak, but it’s enough for me.”

  “What are you going to do when you leave here after Christmas?”

  She hadn’t thought that far ahead. Her first choice would be not to leave. Unfortunately, that wasn’t one of the options. “I’d planned to travel. I’m on a year’s sabbatical from teaching. When I finally go home I want to have made some plans for my future. Do I go back to teaching, do I get a higher degree, do I open my own business?”

  “I know your sisters are heading back to the States on the thirtieth. Would you consider sticking around for another week or so? I’d like to pick your brain about Anna Jane, plus you’re a fun houseguest.”

  His casual invitation made her palms sweat. He actually wanted her to stay longer? She pressed her knees together to keep from jumping up and screaming “Yes!” at the top of her lungs.

  “I don’t have to be anywhere specific,” she said. “I would be happy to stay.” Forever.

  She pushed that last thought away. What did she know about forever? Jarrett was a relative stranger in her life. Just because he was charming, good-hearted, funny and handsome as sin didn’t mean she could afford to lose her head. She needed to be rational about the whole thing. Which was hard to do when every cell in her body had broken into the “Hallelujah Chorus.”

  “Great,” he responded simply.

  Hoping her pleasure didn’t show on her face, she said, “You’d better be careful, Jarrett. You continue to issue invitations, I might not want to leave.”

  “Would it be so bad if you got used to being around here?” he asked, then winked and walked out before she could catch her breath enough to answer.

  * * *

  Jarrett walked down the stairs toward his office. He half expected to be embarrassed by the fact that Fallon knew the worst about him, but instead he felt relieved. Oddly, he trusted her to understand. Maybe because she was basically a compassionate person. Look at how she acted with Anna Jane.

  Is that why he’d asked her to stay after the holidays? The invitation had been impulsive, although he didn’t regret it. If anything, he was pleased that she was going to be around. But shouldn’t he want her gone? Shouldn’t he be worried about her getting under his skin? After all, he knew better than most the price of getting involved.

  He knew that love meant pain. Look at what had happened with Tracy when she’d lost Donald, and Anna Jane when she’d lost both her mother and her nanny. And what about Charlotte? Hadn’t she paid the ultimate price for love?

  He knew better than to risk caring and losing. Better to be alone. Better not to feel.

  But not feeling had ceased to be an option in his life. While he had Fallon to blame for that, she wasn’t the one he thought of. Instead, as he heard familiar footsteps in the foyer, he turned toward his niece and smiled.

  She raced toward him. “Uncle Jarrett, I walked on the beach with Kayla and Elissa and we talked and I’m having the best time.”

  She launched herself at him. He caught her in midair and spun her around. “You’re happy?”

  She nodded and grinned. “Oh, yes. Very. This is going to be a wonderful Christmas.” She leaned her head close to his ear. “You know, I was afraid you were gonna forget, but you didn’t, did you?”

  A sharp pain stabbed his heart. He very well might have forgotten, or at least not paid attention. If not for Fallon. Thank God she’d come into his life when she had.

  He held Anna Jane next to him, feeling her small body. She would be a beautiful young woman in a few years, but for now she was still little enough to want hugs. He would make sure he gave her plenty.

  She rested her head on his shoulder. “The nasty creatures are gone,” she said as he sat on the bottom stair and settled her on his lap.

  “What nasty creatures?”

  “The ones that used to live down here. I could feel them watching me when I climbed the stairs alone. They scared me. I was afraid they were going to come after me, so I ran really fast to the top. Fallon said it was okay to have scary creatures, but to understand they couldn’t really hurt me.”

  He looked down at her. “I wish you’d told me about them.”

  “I wanted to, but you were busy with your empire.”

  “Promise me the next time there’s something scary, you come tell me no matter what. And the hell with my empire.”

  She looked up at him, her dark eyes wide and bright with humor. “Uncle Jarrett, that’s a bad word.”

  “I know. Sorry. But do you promise?”

  She nodded her head. “I’m glad they’re gone, and I’m glad you’re here.” She squeezed him tight.

  Sometime in the past few days he’d decided it was safe to love this child. She couldn’t hurt him the way a woman could. She brought him love and laughter. But Fallon was the one who had brought color to his world. Before her, he’d lived in a drab place of grays. And he would return there when she left. Then he would be the one with creatures nipping at his heels. Better to be haunted by the vicious bites of imaginary creatures than risk the ultimate price of love.

  Chapter Twelve

  Fallon sat down on the lounge chair by the pool. Intellectually she knew that only a few hundred miles north, along the eastern seaboard, there were people shoveling snow. But he
re, in this tropical paradise, her heart found it hard to believe the entire world wasn’t warm, sunny and tropical.

  She adjusted the back of the chair so it lay more at an angle, then she stretched out her legs and closed her eyes. After a morning spent going through her luggage and trying to assimilate her brief time as the mysterious “Ariel” with her memories, she needed a break.

  “Don’t even think about going to sleep,” a voice said.

  Fallon opened her eyes and saw both her sisters looming over her. “Uh-oh. I recognize those looks,” she said. “You guys are about to interrogate me. I should have guessed.”

  “Exactly,” Kayla agreed, bending over and tugging on Fallon’s hand. “There’s no point in resisting, so give in graciously when we tell you we’re going for a walk on the beach.”

  Fallon rosé to her feet and glanced around. “Where’s Anna Jane?”

  Elissa smiled. “Helping Leona with more baking. It was a tough decision for her, but Kayla and I convinced her we understood being torn between company and chocolate chip cookies. She could talk to us later in the day, so it was okay for the cookies to win.”

  They began walking in step, heading down to the beach. “She’s wonderful,” Kayla said. “She talked a little about missing her mother and her nanny. After all she’s been through, it’s amazing she’s as well-adjusted as she is.”

  “Her uncle has something to do with that.”

  “And you.” Kayla’s gaze was knowing. “Every other sentence started with ‘Fallon this’ or ‘Fallon always says.’”

  Just thinking about Anna Jane made Fallon’s heart tighten in her chest. “I really like her, too. Even when I couldn’t remember who I was or if I had a family or children of my own, I felt drawn to her. She’s a special child and I’m glad I’ve had a chance to get to know her.”

  They left the path and walked onto the sand. It was warm and smooth beneath her feet. To their left was the sea. A tropical breeze teased at them, bringing with it the scents of the island. She raised her face to the sun.

  “Don’t you love it here?” she asked. “I can’t imagine wanting to spend Christmas anywhere else. It’s not as traditional as a ski lodge, but it’s still magic.”

  There was no reply. She glanced to her left, then to her right, suddenly realizing her sisters had neatly trapped her between them. Their expressions were identical—she had to cough up some information right now, or else.

  She squared her shoulders. “What do you want to know?”

  Kayla tossed her head. She wore her hair back in a ponytail, and the gold-blond strands danced with the movement. Her cutoff denim shorts exposed long, tanned legs. A loose white sleeveless blouse covered the bare hint of roundness in her belly.

  “Start at the beginning,” Kayla said. “You opened your eyes and saw this gorgeous guy staring down at you. There was instant attraction, and then?”

  “Don’t leave anything out,” Elissa added. “We want details.”

  “There’s nothing to tell,” Fallon said.

  Kayla chuckled. “We are more than your sisters, Fallon. We are your identical sisters. Don’t try and pretend with us.” Her voice dropped. “We have ways of making you talk,” she intoned.

  Fallon smiled. “I’m being serious. There isn’t anything to tell. Jarrett is—” How did she describe him? What words could she use to define the complexity of their relationship?

  “It’s not what you think,” she said at last. “He’s been very kind.”

  “I’ve seen the way he looks at you,” Elissa told her. “He’s more than kind. He’s interested. So, what’s been happening?”

  Stalling for time, Fallon paused and removed her sandals. Her sisters followed suit. Then they moved down to the water’s edge. The sand was firm and damp, but still warm. As the gentle waves rushed over her feet, Fallon dug her toes in deep. Despite the fact that it was late December, the Caribbean Sea still felt like bathwater.

  “I know you’re hoping to hear some exciting, romantic story, but it isn’t like that. When I was first found, Jarrett was a little concerned about me. He’s very wealthy and very successful. Women have tried to get to him in very unethical ways.”

  Kayla’s eyes widened. “He thought you were faking it?”

  “It crossed his mind.”

  “But he quickly figured out the truth,” Elissa added.

  Fallon thought about those first few days. She wouldn’t have used the word quickly, but she didn’t really want to go into detail. “He made the decision to trust me,” she said, because it was close to the truth. “We’re friends. I like him. That’s the end of it.”

  “Bummer,” Kayla said. “I was hoping for a few details about hot kisses in the moonlight.”

  Fallon was careful to keep her expression neutral. “Sorry to disappoint you.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  She didn’t dare look at either of them. They would know what she was thinking—worse, what she was trying to hide. While there hadn’t been bunches of hot kisses, there had been that one evening. Just thinking about it made her start tingling. And the second she started to tingle, her sisters would know.

  Elissa kicked at the water, then took a couple of steps back and sat on the sand. The skirt of her peach sundress billowed out around her. “You don’t just like him, Fallon. I can see it, even if you can’t.”

  Fallon plopped down next to her. “I’m not sure what I feel. These past twenty-four hours have been sort of strange. This time yesterday I didn’t know who I was. Now my life is restored. I’m trying to make it all connect somehow.”

  Kayla waded out until the waves reached her knees. “What was losing your memory like?”

  Fallon frowned. “Sort of like being in a mental tunnel. I knew what was going on around me, but I could only see directly in front. There were no sides, no points of reference. The worst part was wondering if I had any friends or family. There was no one looking for me at the resort. I spent a few nights thinking I didn’t belong anywhere.”

  Elissa shuddered. “I don’t ever want to know what that’s like.” She gave Fallon’s arm a quick squeeze. “You have us, and you’ll always have us.”

  “That’s right,” Kayla said. “You couldn’t get rid of us even if you wanted to. You can run, but we’ll track you down.”

  “You don’t know how good that makes me feel.”

  Elissa studied her. “Do you feel any different because of your experience?”

  “A little. When I didn’t know who I was, I wasn’t just Fallon with no memory. I changed.”

  Kayla looked at her. “How?”

  “My clothes.” Fallon pointed to her cropped red T-shirt and shorts. “Did you notice what I’m wearing? It’s not conservative, it’s not tailored. When I opened my suitcase, I was shocked by what I saw there. Everything is familiar, but it doesn’t look right. Even though I can remember wearing those things, I don’t want to put them on now. I’m wearing my hair loose, the makeup isn’t the same. I feel slightly out of focus somehow.”

  “Maybe it’s just a different side of your personality coming out,” Elissa said. “You’ve always been the responsible one, Fallon. I assumed the reason you dressed so conservatively was because you were trying to look more in charge. I don’t know if it’s because you are the oldest, or it’s just a quirk of your personality, but for some reason, you are the leader of the three of us. You’ve spent a lot of time worrying about us, which hasn’t left all that much time for yourself.”

  “Someone had to take care of things,” Fallon grumbled, reasonably sure Elissa was right, even if she, Fallon, didn’t want her to be.

  “She’s not being critical,” Kayla said. She moved forward and knelt in front of them. “It’s true. You’re real bossy about stuff, but we needed that. When our folks split up and Mom started looking to get married again, there wasn’t anyone to take care of us. So you filled in the gap.”

  Fallon had known that she was the leader, but she’d never stopped to consid
er why. “I’ve always wanted to control things,” she admitted. “In my heart, I guess it was about wanting to make everything a certain way because if it was right, I didn’t have to be afraid.”

  Elissa nodded. “Just because we get older, it doesn’t mean we change those rules. Even if the world is different, I don’t think we allow ourselves to notice.”

  “You’re right,” Fallon said slowly as her sister’s words sank in. “I know in my head that everything is different, but in my heart I’m still scared because my dad is gone and my mother doesn’t notice me anymore.”

  “That was the worst,” Kayla said, sadness replacing the usual humor in her green eyes. “She was so distant. It was as if we didn’t exist.”

  Elissa nodded. “I thought nothing could be worse than the divorce, then Daddy died. Looking back, I wonder if they were ever in love.”

  “Does it matter?” Fallon asked. “Love does crazy things to people. I see it all the time at school. Parents split and the kids are the ones who suffer. I can always tell when there are problems at home. The children really act out. Love hurts.”

  “You can’t believe that,” Elissa said gently. “Love can hurt, but it doesn’t always.”

  Fallon stared at her. “I know you and Cole are happy now, but there was a time when he broke your heart.”

  Her sister flushed. “I broke his, too. We were too young. But we’re grown and we’ve changed, and now we have a wonderful relationship. I don’t want you to give up on love, Fallon. You need to let yourself experience it. I promise you’ll never regret it.”

  Fallon wasn’t sure that was a promise she could believe.

  “There were reasons Mom and Dad split up,” Kayla said. “I’m sure we could guess at many of them, but the truth is, we were just kids and there were plenty of things we didn’t know about them. You can’t cut yourself off just because of the past. Elissa’s right. You’re a terrific woman, Fallon. You deserve an equally terrific guy in your life.”