An Impromptu Proposal

by Carla Cassidy

  With a deep moan, he lowered his head and touched his mouth to hers.

  “Hey Gideon. Are you home?”

  At the sound of Eddy’s voice they jumped apart, like guilty teenagers caught by a vigilant parent. Colleen cleared her throat, her gaze not quite meeting his. “Who’s that?”

  Gideon sighed and ripped a hand through his hair. “Come on out and meet my partner.”

  “Your partner?” she said with surprise. “I…I didn’t know you had one.”

  As Eddy called out again, Gideon grimaced. “Fast Eddy. He’s got a lot of enthusiasm, but his timing isn’t so great,” he said dryly.

  She looked at him again, this time her eyes holding the boldness he’d come to expect from her. “I’d say his timing is perfect.”

  He returned her gaze for a long moment, then nodded, a silent assent. Yes, he was sure she was right. Eddy’s timing had been perfect, keeping them from making a crazy, impulsive mistake. And Gideon was certain kissing Colleen was a mistake.

  In the brief moment that their lips had touched, he’d realized a single kiss would not be enough to sate him. Better to stop before starting, and Gideon had a feeling if Eddy hadn’t walked in when he had, there would have been no stopping.

  Colleen awoke to the sun shining through the small porthole above the bed. She jolted upright, for a moment thinking she must be late for work. Then she remembered. She was at Gideon’s houseboat and she wasn’t going to work today.

  She nestled beneath the sheet and closed her eyes, allowing the languid heaviness of sleep to overtake her again. At the same time her mind replayed the events of the night before.

  They had stayed up until long after midnight, Eddy, Gideon and herself, talking about Sam and the murder, throwing out theories with no basis, suppositions that led nowhere.

  She smiled as she thought of the red-haired teenager. It had been obvious he worshiped Gideon and equally obvious that Eddy’s attentions exasperated Gideon. However, beneath his exasperation, Colleen had sensed Gideon’s genuine, if reluctant, affection for the kid.

  They were an odd couple, Eddy appearing to be so needy and Gideon seeming to need nothing and no one. Stirring restlessly, she thought of that moment just before Eddy had arrived, that single instant when Gideon’s lips had touched hers.

  His mouth had been hot and had tasted of need, the raw need of a man for a woman. He seemed to have no need for an emotional tie of any kind, but in that instant of her standing so close to him, his body had betrayed a very different kind of need.

  She frowned, realizing that the very bed where she lay smelled like Gideon. It was the wonderful, mysterious scent of maleness, and it beckoned to a responding warmth inside her.

  Disturbed by her thoughts, she shoved back the sheet and got up. She had barely noticed the room last night when she’d finally gone to bed, and now she looked around with interest.

  The room was stark in decor, containing only a fullsize bed, a dresser and a desk in one corner with an expensive-looking computer setup. Nothing personal, not even a picture on the wall to give a clue to the personality of the man who lived here.

  She walked over to the window, where a cool, saltkissed breeze drifted in. In the distance, gulls made lazy circles in the sky, occasionally dipping down to scoop up a fish for breakfast.

  Breakfast. She turned from the window, anxious for a cup of coffee to chase away any lingering sleepiness. And she needed a shower, a cold one, to banish any residual heat thoughts of Gideon’s kiss evoked. She walked to the closed bedroom door and leaned an ear against the wood. Nothing. No sounds from the living room. Gideon had said last night that he intended to leave early this morning to do a little sleuthing. He must already be gone. She grabbed clean clothes for the day, then scampered into the bathroom. Minutes later, showered and dressed, she checked the kitchen cabinets, seeking the coffee.

  “Aha,” she finally muttered triumphantly, finding a can in the refrigerator. She scooped the appropriate amount for a full pot into the machine, then wandered around the living room as she waited for it to brew.

  With a little money and a lot of attention, the houseboat could actually be quite pleasant, she thought. It was roomy yet efficient, and the constant, almost imperceptible rocking movement was soothing.

  By looking around it was easy to see that Gideon used it merely as a place to call home, but didn’t consider it a home at all. There was nothing personal in the decor, nothing to indicate the kind of man who lived here. Unless she considered the packages of red licorice lying around and a stack of overdue bills that set on one of the end tables.

  So what kind of a man was Gideon Graves? He gave off such mixed signals. He made no bones about the fact he abhorred people with money, and yet also made it clear that money was the only reason he’d taken her case. Was it her money that had made him want to kiss her? She frowned. It had certainly worked like an aphrodisiac on Jesse.

  She’d just poured her coffee and sat down at the table when a knock sounded at the door. A rush of adrenaline pumped through her as she remembered the events that had brought her here. If somebody had been bugging her duplex, it was quite possible they knew she was here.

  “Who’s there?” she called out cautiously.

  “It’s me.”

  She relaxed at the sound of Eddy’s squeaky voice and opened the door. “Hi, Eddy, come on in.”

  He nodded shyly and stepped inside. “I remembered that last night Gideon said he was going to leave early this morning, and I just thought I’d come by and sort of keep an eye on things here.”

  Colleen tried to hide a smile as she realized the skinny, awkward teen had come to protect her from any harm. “I appreciate your concern, Eddy,” she said, smiling as the tips of his ears turned red with a blush of pleasure. “I was just about to have a cup of coffee. Would you like one?”

  “That sounds great,” he agreed, then strutted over to the table and sat down.

  Colleen poured them each a cup, watching in amusement as he added four spoons of sugar to his before taking a sip and smacking his lips in satisfaction. “You make good coffee, better than Gideon,” he said.

  She smiled again, wondering how many spoons of sugar Gideon’s coffee required. “Have you known Gideon a long time?” she asked.

  He shrugged. “A couple of years, but we’ve gotten pretty close in the last couple of months.” Eddy reared back in the chair, as Colleen had seen Gideon do whenever he sat at the table. “Since I graduated from high school last May, I’ve had a lot more time to spend around here, you know, helping Gideon out.”

  “You graduated? Good for you. Are you going to college?”

  He shook his head. “No money for that. Besides, I’m going to be a private eye like Gideon.” His face creased with a huge smile. “Some day everyone who needs an investigator will know that Fast Eddy is one of the best.”

  “Gideon referred to you as Fast Eddy last night. Where did you get the nickname?”

  “I was on the high school track team, broke a couple of running records, so everyone started calling me Fast Eddy,” he explained. “I think it’s a good name for a P.I., don’t you?”

  “It’s certainly catchy,” she agreed.

  “Yeah, I’m hoping Gideon will teach me all the tricks to the trade. He’s great, isn’t he?” Eddy’s smile wavered slightly. “Sometimes in my head, I pretend like he’s my dad,” he blurted, then blushed furiously. He stood up and drained his coffee cup. “Well, I really didn’t intend to come in and bother you. I just wanted to tell you I’ll be outside keeping an eye on the perimeters, and you shouldn’t worry about anything.”

  “You’re welcome to hang around in here, Eddy,” she offered as she walked him to the door.

  “Thanks, but I think it would be better if I stayed outside. Besides, I brought my fishing pole and tackle, sort of as a disguise. I’ll just sit on the bank out there and keep a lookout.” He smiled shyly, then with a small wave, he disappeared.

  Colleen picked
up her coffee cup from the table and carried it with her to the window. She watched as Eddy took a position along the shoreline where he could keep on eye on the houseboat and another on his fishing pole. Sipping her coffee, she wondered about Eddy’s family. What kind of a home life did he have? Apparently not great, if he spent much of his time here with Gideon indulging in fantasies of being a famous investigator.

  Even more curious was Eddy pretending Gideon was his father. She wondered where Eddy’s real father was, if he was a presence in the boy’s life. As a social worker, she saw far too many children who didn’t have the healthy luxury of both parents in their lives. Colleen herself had been just a toddler when her own mother had died. With her often absent, workaholic father, it wasn’t a surprise that she felt particularly close to her siblings.

  Thinking of her sisters, Colleen realized she needed to call them and tell them she would be staying here for the next couple of days.

  She moved away from the window and filled her coffee cup. Then she sank down onto the sofa and reached for the telephone on the end table.

  Punching in Carolyn’s number in Casey’s Corners, Kansas, she settled against the cushions and realized she was homesick to hear Carolyn’s voice. It had been several weeks since the two had spoken. The last time had been the day before their sister Bonnie’s wedding. Bonnie had given them little notice of the wedding, and Colleen had been disappointed when a difficult case had prevented her attendance.

  “Hello?”

  Colleen’s heart expanded with warmth at the sound of Carolyn’s voice. She hadn’t realized how much she had missed her sister since Carolyn had moved away. “Caro, it’s me.”

  “Oh, Colleen, it’s so good to hear your voice. I was just thinking about you. How are you? Is everything all right?”

  Colleen hesitated a moment, unsure how much to tell her about the events of the last couple of days. “Things are okay,” she hedged, deciding not to mention anything. “I just wanted to tell you that I’m not going to be at home for the next couple of days. I’m staying with a—a friend and wanted to give you the number here.”

  “Hang on, let me get a piece of paper and a pencil.” There was a pause. “Okay, I’m ready.”

  Colleen gave her Gideon’s number. “How’s Bonnie and her new husband, Russ? I assume the wedding went off without a hitch?”

  “It was wonderful. The whole town turned out for the event. Gosh, Colleen, you don’t know how much we all wished you could have been here. You…and Sam.” Carolyn paused a moment and cleared her throat. “Anyway, it was a beautiful ceremony and Bonnie looked radiant. We’d all been so tense since the break-in, it was terrific to have something to celebrate.”

  “Break-in?” Colleen frowned.

  “Yes, somebody broke into the house one night a couple of weeks before the wedding. It was really odd. The only things we found missing were the necklaces that Daddy gave us. Both Bonnie’s and mine were stolen.”

  Colleen’s heart seemed to stop beating for a moment. She reached up to her neck, her fingertips cold as she traced the raised welts and scratches. Was it possible? Her mind rebelled at the very thought. Surely it was merely a coincidence?

  “Colleen?”

  “Yeah, I’m here.” She frowned and released her tight hold on the necklace. “Caro, I’ve got to go. I’ll call you later in the week. In the meantime, you’ve got this number in case you need to reach me.”

  “Colleen, are you sure everything is all right?”

  Colleen could hear the worry in her sister’s voice. “I promise. Everything is under control. I love you, Caro, and give Bonnie my love.”

  “We love you, too,” Carolyn replied.

  Colleen hung up the phone slowly, her thoughts on the gold charm hanging around her neck. She unclasped the necklace and allowed it to fall into her hand.

  Staring at it, she remembered the day her father had given it to her. It had been one of the very rare occasions when her father had called her and asked her to meet him for lunch. They’d dined in a restaurant near the Baker Enterprises headquarters.

  Throughout the meal, Joseph Baker had been distant, distracted, but Colleen hadn’t thought it unusual. Joseph was usually distracted most of the time. He’d eaten quickly, then pulled out the jeweler’s box and handed it to her.

  “A gift,” he’d said. “I bought one for each of my children.” He’d looked at her from across the table, his blue eyes so intense, filled with a love Colleen had never seen before.

  She looked at the necklace in her hand, noting the beautiful workmanship of the charm. The mythical phoenix, a symbol of rebirth and immortality. Joseph had been such a pragmatic man. The phoenix had seemed an odd choice to Colleen.

  Now, looking back on that day, Colleen wondered if her father had somehow felt a sense of impending doom. Had he bought the necklaces with the knowledge that his own death was near?

  Why would anyone want our necklaces? she wondered. Although probably fairly expensive, their monetary value certainly wouldn’t warrant somebody traveling to Kansas to steal Bonnie’s and Carolyn’s, then back to Long Island to obtain Colleen’s. It just didn’t make any sense. None of it made sense at all.

  As she stared at the piece of jewelry, the grief she hadn’t felt over the loss of her father suddenly welled up in the back of her throat. For so long following the murder, the grief had been lost amid the horror of the crime itself and Sam’s subsequent disappearance.

  Tears blurred her vision as she continued to stare at the shiny gold of the mythical bird. Joseph had given her the necklace, kissed her on the forehead, then three days later he’d been killed.

  There would be no more chances to get close to her father. With a sob, she put her head down on the table and let her grief consume her.

  Chapter Seven

  Gideon got out of his car in the marina parking lot and stretched, his arms over his head. Despite the fact that he’d been up for hours, his body was still stiff from sleeping on the sofa. But the kinks in his body were nothing compared to the kinks in his brain.

  He’d used every contact he had, every means both legal and illegal he had at his disposal to find Sam Baker. Nothing. It was as if the man had disappeared off the face of the earth. Gideon had never heard of a fugitive who didn’t eventually make a mistake, leave an inadvertent clue that led to capture. So how had Sam Baker managed to disappear so completely?

  As he walked down the dock toward his houseboat, he realized that if something didn’t break soon, he was going to have to tell Colleen he couldn’t help her, that he’d failed.

  He frowned as he saw Eddy sitting on the shoreline in a fisherman’s cap, a pole dangling in the water. Eddy spotted him and grinned widely. He quickly set down the pole and scrambled up the shore toward Gideon.

  “Hi, partner,” he said cheerfully. “I knew you were going to be gone for awhile this morning so I thought I’d come over and watch over things. You know, keep an eye on the dame.”

  “Good thinking.” He clapped Eddy on the shoulder. “Why don’t you continue keeping an eye on things out here, and if you happen to catch enough fish, I’ll fry them up for dinner.”

  “Great!” With a thumbs-up signal, Eddy turned and ran to his pole.

  Ah, to be that young and so easily contented, Gideon thought as he walked to the houseboat. Perhaps that was part of Eddy’s appeal. Despite the knocks life had given him, the kid had managed to maintain an innocence, an exuberance that Gideon envied. His own innocence had been stolen early in his life, and whatever exuberance he’d once had, whatever visions he’d once entertained for his future had been taken by Anne.

  All thoughts of Eddy fell away as he walked into the houseboat and heard Colleen’s sobs. She sat on the sofa, her face hidden in her hands, and the sound of her crying touched a place in Gideon’s heart that hadn’t been touched in a very long time.

  It was obvious she was unaware of his entrance, and for a moment he stood by the door awkwardly, unsure what to do. Whe
n she continued her mournful sobs, he approached her. “Colleen?” He called her name softly, hesitantly. “What’s wrong?”

  She looked up in surprise, her face tear-streaked and sorrowful. She stood and quickly swiped at her tears.

  “I’m sorry…it’s really silly.” She attempted a smile, but it crumbled and tears began again. Holding out her arms, she stumbled toward him. “It just hit me…my dad is gone. He’s gone forever.”

  Gideon met her halfway across the room and wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight as she buried her face in his shirtfront and cried.

  He didn’t know what had prompted her grief, but it didn’t much matter. It was odd. He’d believed himself to be inured to feminine tears. During his marriage to Anne, he’d quickly learned that like her smiles, tears could manipulate. It hadn’t taken him long to remain unmoved by Anne’s false tears.

  But he knew Colleen’s tears were real, and her pain touched him, made him ache for her. He ran a hand through her hair in an attempt to soothe. “It’s all right,” he whispered. “Let it all out.”

  He could smell the scent of his minty soap as well as the fresh, familiar smell of his shampoo. It seemed so intimate, the fact that she’d stood in his shower and used his things.

  Holding Colleen was a pleasure, despite her tears. Her body leaned into his, soft and yielding. She held him tight, as if he was her strength, her anchor, and again he felt a curious swirling of emotions deep within. His emotions had little to do with passion or desire. What he felt was more gentle and much more frightening.

  “I’m so sorry.” She finally pulled away from him, her gaze not meeting his. “I feel so ridiculous. I just started thinking about my dad, and suddenly I was crying and couldn’t stop.” She tried a smile. “How was your morning?”

  “A little less intense than yours.” He led her to the table, where she sat down, then he poured them each a cup of coffee. “You sure you’re all right?”