Lexie appeared relieved.
“There’s still the boardroom,” Simon said.
Lexie’s relief seemed short-lived. “If it’s in there, it could be either one of them.”
Indeed, one end of the boardroom was an entire file and storage system. Both file drawer and door cabinets were decorated with the requisite leaf marquetry.
When he noticed Lexie staring at them as if she couldn’t take a step forward, Simon asked, “You want me to try?”
She handed over the key.
Simon tried the first lock. The key slid in easily but didn’t turn. He tried the second…third…all. The key opened none of them.
Frustration turned him rigid, made him want to beat on something. Someone.
A gentle hand on his arm startled him. He whipped around to face Lexie. “I don’t get it,” he said. “Can there be more of these cabinets in other offices?”
Lexie shrugged. “I wouldn’t think so. I can’t see just anyone having them.”
Even so, they backtracked down the hall, checking office after office and finding nothing even close to a match.
They left the building the way they’d come and with as much care as they’d taken when they’d entered it. The only sign that they’d been there was the disabled alarm.
Not wanting anything to go wrong before they got out of the area, Simon left it unarmed, knowing it would warn the villain that his time of going undiscovered was drawing to an end.
LEXIE LOST HERSELF in the silence on the way home. Simon was driving. Just as well. Her mind was dizzy with the thoughts running through it.
How could they not have found the cabinet with the file drawer containing all those folders? She tried convincing herself that Bray’s vision might have been off. Or that he might be a con man himself.Only she didn’t buy it.
Simon believed in Bray and his vision, so she had to.
The cabinet and those files should have been at the Drake offices where Heller could easily get at them. She couldn’t imagine that Heller had personal possession of one of the antique cabinets originally owned by Henry Drake, Brandon’s grandfather and Cliff’s father.
That left only one place to search.
An option she didn’t want to think about…
As they turned onto the gravel road leading to her home, she glanced at Simon, got a glimpse of his closed expression and could only imagine the thoughts going through his head. She could almost feel his roiling emotions reach out to her. Simon had even more reason to feel let down than she had, and Lexie sensed that his disappointment was deeper, darker, more dangerous. He was gambling part of himself on this mission of theirs, and he was losing.
A shiver ran through her.
Simon parked and they got out of the car without speaking. When he took her keys, Lexie felt an untapped energy emanate from him, leaving her uneasy and a little breathless to see how his mood played out. Once inside, he relocked the door and threw the keys on a nearby table. They stripped off their outer clothing and boots.
Then, without warning, Simon pulled her to him and held her for a moment so tightly she could barely breathe. He kissed her hard and drove her backward toward the stairs. She stumbled, but he caught her, brought her down easy on a step, then came on top of her, all without taking his mouth from hers. He ripped the front of her jeans open and plunged his hand inside.
Lexie gasped. There was something different about this Simon. Something as far from soft and gentle as she could imagine. Even so, as he slid his fingers in her, never letting up on the kiss, she lit up like a bottle rocket from the inside out.
As if frenzied by her cry of pleasure, he stripped off her jeans and panties.
Wanting to know what came next, Lexie couldn’t move as she watched him unzip his fly and step out of his jeans.
Then she didn’t have time to think at all when he spread her legs and slid inside her, taking her like some demon was driving him. Embracing him with her legs, she thought simply to let him spend himself on her, but got caught on the wave of his passion and hung on for dear life.
Chapter Fifteen
The next morning, Lexie awoke in Simon’s arms. She never wanted to leave their shelter, would spend a lifetime wrapped up in them—in him—if only fate would permit.
Truthful with herself, she was tired of going it alone, but she didn’t simply want a man. She wanted Simon—the love of her life, her soul mate. She wanted to make a life with him. She wanted to believe he would make a good partner for her, a good father for Katie, but her doubts kept her from trusting him completely. He was used to living on the dark edge of life, which was the reason he was here in Jenkins Cove now. Could he settle down in a small town once the mystery of the human trafficking operation was resolved?And what was his idea of resolution?
She simply didn’t want to go there.
They’d spent half the night making love, but Lexie couldn’t help but wonder if Simon’s passion had been more to erase the frustration at hitting another brick wall than it had been due to his feelings for her.
It wasn’t that she didn’t believe that he cared for her. She simply didn’t believe that she was the most important thing in his life at the moment. She didn’t know that she—or their daughter—would ever be. Simon claimed that he wanted to see the perpetrators of the human trafficking scheme brought to justice, but she feared that he was simply driven by the need for revenge.
“Hey, you’re awake,” Simon said sleepily, a smile softening his face as he ran his hand down the small of her back to her naked butt.
Need immediately gripped her insides at the intimate touch; nevertheless Lexie scooted away from him and rolled out of bed.
“It’s B day,” she said, her heart pounding. She couldn’t look at Simon, not after the thoughts that had been playing havoc with her emotions. “The Drake Foundation Christmas ball starts at six. There’s still some work to be done and it’s…” She checked the clock. “Good grief, it’s almost ten! I need to have the fresh flowers in the truck and be at Drake House at eleven.” Then it hit her. “Phil Cardon was supposed to help me finish. I don’t even know if he’s in jail or not.”
Throughout her long-winded spiel, Simon lay there staring at her. He kept whatever he was thinking to himself, but his smile had faded, to be replaced by a neutral expression.
“Whatever you need to do,” he said.
Lexie showered in record time. This time Simon didn’t even try to join her. He waited until she was dressed and scaring up a fast breakfast of coffee and toast with peanut butter and jelly—her specialty.
Then she called the police and asked if Phil had been arrested. He hadn’t. Though she wasn’t sure how to feel about that, she hoped Phil would show at the garden center or she would have to get someone else fast.
Simon came downstairs, his very presence making her pulse speed up.
“Breakfast,” she said, in the middle of eating hers.
“Thanks. None for me.”
The way he was looking at her—as if he knew what she’d been worrying about that morning—made her uneasy. She washed down the mouthful of peanut butter and jelly with a slug of coffee. A lump sat in her throat. Knowing she couldn’t finish, she threw away the rest of the toast.
“We’re not done, you know,” he said finally. “With the key. There’s still Cliff Drake’s place.”
The thing she’d tried to put out of mind. “You mean the Manor at Drake Acres.”
“Since you say he’s so competitive with Brandon, he undoubtedly has more of the file cabinets that once belonged to his father.”
Lexie knew he was right, but she hadn’t wanted to think about it. “I really don’t have access there, and the place is well-staffed.”
Simon raised his eyebrows. “What about tonight? Won’t everyone including staff be at the ball?”
“I—I suppose so. I need to be there myself, Simon. You know, in case anything needs my attention,” she said, then quickly added, “My parents and my siste
r, Carole, and Katie will all expect me to be there with them.”
Simon stared at her as if he were trying to read her mind. “You don’t have to go with me this time,” he said, his voice even. “I’ll get in on my own.”
More silence. The air was thick with things that remained unspoken between them.
Finally Lexie whispered, “I hate this!”
“What is it you hate exactly? Playing detective?”
From Simon’s expression, Lexie swore he expected her to say she hated him.
“Thinking it could be Cliff,” she said. “He’s always been good to me and my family. The work he gave me saved the business a few years back. I just don’t want to believe he would do something so awful. Heller has to be the one.”
“I hope you’re right, but I have to be sure.”
“Why, Simon?” She had to get her doubts into the open so he could ease them. “What are you going to do with the information if you find it?”
A big pause was followed by his saying, “I don’t know yet.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of. Call Bray, have him put you in touch with his brother-in-law. We can tell him everything we know. Let the authorities handle the investigation.”
“Where is this coming from?”
“From fear, Simon.”
“You’re afraid of me?”
“I’m afraid of what you’ll do. What you won’t be able to undo. It’s not too late to let Detective McClellan in on what we’ve learned. Remember, Bray said his brother-in-law would be understanding. Maybe it’s time you trusted someone other than yourself to get the job done.”
“I’ve trusted you.”
And now he didn’t? Is that why he was so closed off, so distant?
“It’s you who don’t trust me,” Simon said flatly. “Not with you. Not with our daughter. Not even with a murderer.”
“I do want to trust you, Simon, but trust takes time, has to be earned. I don’t know what you would or wouldn’t do. I don’t know you anymore,” she said truthfully.
“So that’s it.”
His tone had a finality to it that sent a chill through her.
What did he expect of her in so short a time? After spending only three days with him, how could she know him and what he would or would not do?
“Simon—”
“Let’s not argue, Lexie. You’ll be late for work.”
And that quickly she felt an invisible wall go up between them.
One she wasn’t sure she could breach, even if she tried.
SIMON PLAYED BODYGUARD until he saw Lexie safely arrive at Drake House. Then he hightailed it out of there and headed for town.
He didn’t know why he felt so let down. He’d known he was no good for Lexie, had told himself so a hundred times before he’d come face-to-face with her.But once he had…
Wishing would get him nowhere. Nor would regret. How could he regret the time he’d spent with the woman he loved? How could he regret meeting his daughter, even if Katie didn’t know he was her father?
But maybe he would have been better off.
Expecting his return to Jenkins Cove would be short-lived, especially if he found the files tonight, Simon figured he had today to make his peace with his old man, something he felt compelled to do. He could just leave without ever revealing himself, but Simon hadn’t liked the way things had ended between them. And it seemed his father was a changed man.
If his father could change…
Driving straight for the Duck Blind, Simon was relieved to note that it hadn’t opened for the day yet. Only one vehicle was parked in the lot, in the owner’s spot.
He went inside.
The Duck Blind was a combination bar and restaurant with wood-paneled walls and a floor of wide pine planks. Tables in the center of the room were lit by lamps with fake stained-glass shades.
Rufus Shea was behind the bar, his back to Simon. Apparently sensing another presence, he turned, and when he saw Simon, he said, “It’s Sunday. Sorry, but we’re not open yet. You’ll have to come back in an hour.”
Simon took a good look at his old man. He’d aged, of course, his thinning hair and scraggly beard now threaded with gray, but he was still wearing a plaid shirt and an apron, just as he used to.
Suddenly his father’s brow furrowed, the wrinkled skin around his eyes tightening. “You look familiar. Do I know you?”
Simon removed his hat. “You used to…Dad.”
“S-Simon?”
Simon nodded. “I’m alive. I don’t know the name of the poor kid you buried, but it wasn’t me.”
His father’s face crumpled. Gripping the bar with both hands, Rufus lowered his head and wept, sobbing, “You’re alive. My boy is alive.”
Simon hadn’t known what to expect, but it wasn’t this. Something inside him threatened to break. He wasn’t prepared. Didn’t know how to handle the emotions suddenly crashing through him. So he waited until his father cried himself out and then told him an edited version of what had happened to him thirteen years before.
Rufus used a napkin to dry his tears. “I should’ve known it wasn’t you who’d died. They wouldn’t let me see your body, said better the casket remained closed. I was so sorry about the way things ended between us, boy. I was no good to anyone then. I couldn’t take care of you the way a father should. I couldn’t take care of myself. I’m so ashamed.”
Giving into the regret he’d bottled up for years, Simon said, “Drink made you hell to live with, but you’re sober now. You changed.”
“I’m a different person,” Rufus agreed. “I’m just sorry I didn’t sober up when you needed me.”
“We always need our parents,” Simon told him. “That was the last straw, you know—your saying I was no son of yours. That’s when I decided to run.”
Rufus didn’t say anything. Suddenly he couldn’t meet Simon’s eyes and Simon’s gut quaked. What the hell?
“What is it, Dad? What aren’t you telling me?”
Rufus didn’t answer immediately, but finally he said, “I-I love you as much as any father could love a son.” He still was averting his eyes. “You got to believe that.”
“All right.”
“But I wasn’t able to give your mother a child…The disappointment nearly killed her. We had some problems with the marriage over it. Then she got pregnant. Not by me.” Finally he looked up, locked gazes with Simon. “She never told me who he was. She said it was okay if I wanted to leave her. I didn’t though. I loved her more than anything. Her death nearly killed me, too.”
It was taking Simon some time to process this. “So you’re not my father?”
“I am your father in every way that counts!” Rufus said. “I couldn’t have loved you more, boy, since before you were born. But I was weak and jealous of your mother. I found comfort in the bottle every time I thought about her and another man, not that she catted around on me. It was just that once. She swore it, and mostly I believed her. And then when she died…”
“You forgot about me.”
“I didn’t forget about you, Simon. Never. Not once in the last thirteen years.” More tears rolled into his beard. “I never stopped regretting denying you that last night when all you were trying to do was stop me from taking another drink. I love you, boy. I always have.”
Simon couldn’t help but wonder who his biological father might be, but he knew he loved Rufus Shea, no matter what. He settled down at the bar and talked with the old man until it was time for the Duck Blind to open.
Only then did he reluctantly leave, promising to be back.
His thoughts filled with the way Rufus had turned his life around, Simon wondered if it was possible for someone as damaged as he was to do the same.
Chapter Sixteen
As the sun set and the snow started falling in big fat flakes, the first of hundreds of guests arrived for the Drake Foundation charity ball, and Drake House lit up like a beautiful Christmas tree.
Having arrived early and alon
e, Lexie thought to keep herself busy, rearranging plants and tweaking the vases of flowers. Eventually, she acknowledged that the decorations already looked perfect and found a niche just inside the ballroom where she could see everyone as they came in.Marie and Brandon stood together in the middle of the foyer, greeting each new arrival. Marie looked spectacular in an off-the-shoulder green velvet gown and made the perfect partner for Brandon, who could have been born in a tux. For once he was smiling. That she’d even had the smallest doubt about him made Lexie’s heart twist in regret.
Shelley Zachary stood to one side, taking people’s coats and handing them off to Isabella and another young woman to hang on specially set up racks just inside the private wing. Wearing what was obviously a designer black dress, Isabella looked ready to join the ball. From her expression, Lexie guessed that Cliff hadn’t invited her to be his date, and Isabella wasn’t at all happy playing maid tonight.
So far, a few dozen people had entered the ballroom, oohing and aahing that they’d never seen anything quite so beautiful. Lexie knew she should take more pleasure in the approval, but the Grinch was back.
She blamed Simon for her dark mood.
Oh, he’d seen to his duty as her bodyguard when she’d finished at Drake House earlier, then had followed her back here this evening. For the few hours in between he’d barely spoken to her, hadn’t noticed her red silk chiffon gown with its ruched and beaded bodice and a studded bow at the hip. Indeed, he’d seemed preoccupied with his own thoughts.
Had he been making plans to break into the Manor at Drake Acres or plans to leave Jenkins Cove? Maybe both, she thought sadly.
“Lexie, there you are!”
“Mom, Dad.” Lexie focused on her parents. Her mother was wearing a new deep blue cocktail dress and her father his old tuxedo. “You two look great. Where’s Katie?”
“With Carole. They’ll be along in a minute.”
Her father kissed her cheek, saying, “My, you look glamorous.”
“Thanks, Dad.” She forced a grin. “Nice that someone noticed.”
Christmas Delivery Page 15