Scene of the Crime: Bachelor Moon

by Carla Cassidy

  He consciously willed away thoughts of Daniella and Macy and turned on the radio. He had a long drive ahead of him, and he’d made his decision. He refused to second-guess himself.

  He drove straight through to Kansas City and arrived at his apartment just after two in the morning. As he walked in the door the silence, the utter lack of life energy, greeted him instead of a welcome sense of homecoming.

  Falling into bed, he slept deeply and dreamlessly until seven the next morning. After a long hot shower and a breakfast of coffee and a frozen bagel zapped in the microwave, he headed into FBI headquarters.

  The first thing he’d seen as he’d gotten dressed was the princess crown that Macy had given him sitting on top of his dresser. The sight of it had shot a pain so sharp through his center that he’d momentarily thought he might be having a heart attack. Over, he’d told himself as he’d left the room. It was over and it was time for him to move on.

  Officially he wasn’t back on the job yet. He’d have to get an okay from his supervisor before officially being back, but he wanted to touch base with Lexie Forbes and thank her for taking care of the background searches he’d needed.

  He found Lexie in the area the other agents called the dungeon, a portion of the building’s basement that housed the computer geeks.

  Lexie Forbes was easy to find, with the neon pink streak in her light brown hair and the oversized black-rimmed glasses that didn’t quite hide the spring green of her eyes.

  She was a favorite among the agents. Scary bright, quirky as hell, she was constantly looking for the man of her dreams in a string of losers who couldn’t look past the charming quirks that made her intriguing.

  She saw him and offered him a welcoming smile. “Look who’s back. The Prince of Darkness has returned to the building.” She pulled off the headset she’d been wearing and whirled her computer chair around to face him. “How was your vacation?”

  Emotional, filled with danger, in some ways devastating—that was what flew through his head, but he didn’t say it. “Okay. How are things here? You find Mr. Right yet?”

  “A mythical creature,” she replied. “I figure I’ll give it two more years, but if I haven’t found him by my thirtieth birthday I’m getting artificially inseminated and creating my own family.”

  Sam smiled, although the gesture couldn’t begin to lighten his heart, which still held the deep bruising of heartbreak. “I just wanted to stop by and thank you for helping me out while I was gone.”

  Lexie shrugged her shoulders. “Not a problem, just a matter of a few keystrokes here and there.” Sam knew it was more complicated than that, but he didn’t protest. “You back on the job?”

  “Don’t know yet. I have to talk to the man and see if he thinks I’m ready to come back. I hope so. I can’t stand my own company.” What he couldn’t stand was having any downtime that might give him an opportunity to think about the two females he’d left behind.

  “I dunno, Sam. You don’t look that rested or revitalized to me,” Lexie observed, as she squinted at him.

  He certainly felt older, more tired, than he had when he’d left here. “All I need is to get back to work,” he said firmly. With a nod of goodbye he went in search of his boss.

  Work was what he needed to get the mental vision of Daniella out of his head. He had to forget how she’d looked that last moment he’d seen her, with a sheen of tears shining in her beautiful blue eyes, with the glow of the sun on her hair.

  He needed to forget how she’d felt naked in his arms, sweetly gasping his name as they’d made love. He desperately needed to forget that look she sometimes had in her eyes when she gazed at him, a look that had spoken of respect and invitation and so much love.

  He had to forget that he’d ever gone to a place called Bachelor Moon. The Prince of Darkness rode through life alone; that was all he needed to remember.

  DANIELLA STOOD AT THE back door and stared out unseeing as she sipped a cup of coffee. The sun had lowered in the sky, painting an early evening golden glow to the landscape.

  It had been a week since Sam had left, and each day she hoped the pain inside her would ease, but so far that hadn’t happened.

  Even Macy had remained unusually subdued over the past week. When Sam had driven away he’d left a huge void behind, and it was just going to take time for that void to be filled.

  There were no guests in the house at the moment. Yesterday there had been a memorial service for Johnny by the pond. Daniella had been pleased that it seemed the whole town had turned out to show their support and pay their respects.

  As she’d listened to Reverend David St. James talk about what a good man Johnny had been, how he’d been a devoted husband and father, the final piece of closure had washed over Daniella.

  Johnny had gone to his watery grave loving her, and now she had all the answers she needed concerning his disappearance and was at peace.

  With a deep sigh she turned away from the door and instead set her coffee cup down and went in search of Macy. She found her in her bedroom playing with her fashion dolls.

  “Look, this is Mr. Sam,” Macy said as she held up a handsome, dark-haired doll.

  Daniella forced a smile to her lips. “He looks very nice in his tuxedo.”

  Macy set the doll on the floor. “I miss him.”

  “I know, honey—so do I.”

  Macy frowned. “He wasn’t very good at fishing, but he was good at everything else. I could have taught him how to fish better if he’d stayed a while longer.”

  “It will soon be time for you to put your dolls away and get into the bathtub.”

  The ring of the business phone pulled Daniella from the room. She hurried into the kitchen and answered. “Bachelor Moon Bed and Breakfast.”

  “Daniella.”

  His voice washed over her in a shower of warmth and she squeezed the receiver closer to her ear. “Sam.” Her heart instantly stepped up its rhythm even as she told herself she was a fool. He was probably calling because he thought he’d left something here or he had some paperwork to fill out and needed some answers from her.

  “How are things going?” he asked.

  “Fine. Just fine.” She tried to put a lilt in her tone. She didn’t want him to know how difficult it was for her just to hear the sound of his voice.

  “I have some things to follow up on and was wondering if you could meet me at Mama’s Café.”

  Her heart rate stepped up once again. Sam was here in town? She didn’t want to see him again. It would hurt too much, and yet her heart ached with the need to look at him again. “When?”

  “Now…or as soon as possible,” he replied.

  Her mind whirled. “It might take me a while to get there. I need to see if I can get somebody to watch Macy.” There was no way she wanted her daughter to know that Sam was back in town. There was no way she wanted Macy to have any interaction with him. As difficult as it was going to be for Daniella, it would be devastating for Macy to have to tell him goodbye yet again.

  “However long it takes, I’ll be waiting.” He clicked off, and Daniella immediately called Tina and arranged for Macy to stay with her for a couple of hours. Within thirty minutes Daniella was alone in the car and headed from Tina’s to Mama’s Café.

  She told herself there was no reason to entertain any kind of hope in her heart. There had been nothing in his voice to indicate that this was anything but some sort of business that needed to be taken care of.

  Still, that hadn’t stopped her from putting on her prettiest pink lipstick and an extra coat of mascara before she’d left the house.

  As she turned down Main Street she tried to calm the jittering of her nerves. He probably had some sort of paperwork to fill out because of what had happened while he was here on vacation.

  Still, as she pulled into a parking space in front of the café and saw him standing out front, she couldn’t stop the soaring of her heart.

  Clad in a pair of jeans and a navy T-shirt, he loo
ked achingly handsome. In his hand he held Macy’s crown, and she wondered if that was what had brought him back here—the need to return a little girl’s crown.

  She got out of her car and forced a smile to her lips. “Hey, Mr. Sam.”

  “Daniella.” He met her at the car door and held out the crown toward her. “Put this in your car and take it back to Macy. I just borrowed it—it was never mine to keep.”

  Her initial reaction was to protest, but there was a tremble in his voice that kept her silent. She took the crown from him and tossed it onto her passenger seat, then turned back to face him.

  Had he driven all these miles for no other reason? Her heart now had the same empty echo that she’d felt the day he’d driven away from the bed-and-breakfast.

  “Take a walk with me?” he asked.

  She nodded, her emotion too thick in her throat to speak. They fell into step side by side and headed toward the park in the center square.

  “I heard you had a memorial service for Johnny,” he said, and gestured to a bench.

  “Yes, it was nice. Everyone has been very supportive.” They sat, not quite touching but close enough that she could smell his familiar scent.

  There was a long moment of silence and she jumped to fill it. “Jeff and Tina have started dating, and I’m so pleased for both of them. Hopefully they can make it work. They both deserve to find happiness with somebody. Matt moved out and seems happy in his new place. What are you doing here, Sam?”

  The question fell from her lips before she realized she was going to ask it. But it was a catalyst that forced her emotions to the surface. She gazed at him, his features easily discernible in both the moonlight and the glow of a nearby streetlamp.

  “Why are you here? You could have just mailed that crown back to Macy if that’s what you wanted to do. Why are you here with me now?” She recognized a hint of anger in her voice.

  He knew how she felt about him. How dare he come back here and break her heart all over again just by his mere sight? Didn’t he realize that sitting here next to him, smelling his cologne, feeling the warmth of his body radiating toward her, was torture?

  He gazed out into the distance. “I was so sure that I made the right choice when I left here. I drove away certain that I could put my time here, my time with you and Macy, behind me.”

  He turned to look at her and his eyes glowed with an emotion she couldn’t identify. “I’ve always been able to lose myself in my work, but this time was different. All I kept thinking about was you and Macy and my father and the kind of man I believed myself to be.”

  “I know the man you are,” Daniella said, hope beginning to glow like a candle inside her heart. “You’re the kind of man I love…strong and funny, caring and passionate.”

  The candle flickered hesitantly as he once again directed his gaze to the distance. “I finally decided to do what I do best—profile a killer.”

  Her gaze turned to confusion. “What do you mean?”

  Once again he looked at her, and his eyes held a hint of the darkness that surrounded them. “I’ve always been afraid that like my father, there was a killer hiding deep inside me just waiting for the right moment to spring out of the shadows, and so I profiled myself.”

  “And what did you find?” She reached for his hand, unable to deny herself physical contact with him for another moment.

  “I discovered that I’m an ordinary man who has tried for years to understand what drove my father to do what he did on that terrible day so long ago. I realized that you were right—I’m not my father’s son. I don’t have the capacity to harm somebody I love.”

  His fingers tightened around hers as he continued. “I learned I have a great capacity to love a little girl who has the best princess walk in the world and thinks fireflies are the prettiest bugs God ever made. More than that, I realized I’m tired of living in the darkness, that I need more in my life, that I need you.”

  He stood from the bench and pulled her to her feet. She flew into his arms, her heart beating wildly and the candle glow a raging fire of love. “I love you, Daniella, and I can’t imagine living another second of my life without you.”

  His mouth took hers in a kiss that fed the hunger in her soul, that soothed the ache in her heart and that tasted not only of his passion, but of her own, as well.

  When the kiss ended he took her hand, and they walked a couple of steps. Then he halted and faced the statue of the town founder, Larry Bridges. He drew Daniella back into his arms and smiled down at her.

  “Look up,” he said.

  She tilted her head back and gasped as she saw the full moon overhead. “It’s a Bachelor Moon,” she said, her heart beating wildly in her chest.

  “And I’m standing in the place where the legend begins, a confirmed bachelor who knows now what it’s like to love, to be loved. I don’t want to be a bachelor anymore, Daniella.”

  Her heart swelled with happiness, but there was an issue that forced her to hold off embracing her own joy. “Sam, what about your job?”

  “I’m done with it. I’ve already tendered my resignation. I heard there might be an opening at the Bachelor Moon Bed and Breakfast for a handyman. The pay isn’t great but the fringe benefits are amazing.”

  She laughed, but then sobered quickly. There was no way a man like Sam Connelly would be content working as a handyman. “That would be nice for a while, but then what?”

  “I was thinking maybe I’d make a run for the position of sheriff. With Jim retiring, the town is going to need a new sheriff.”

  “And you’re just the man to fit the job,” she said, the last of her reservations melting away. She reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck and smiled as he pulled her closer against him. “I love you, Sam.” The words seemed inadequate for the feelings she held in her heart.

  “And I love you, Daniella. You have healed my darkness and filled my heart with light.” Once again their mouths met in a fiery kiss that left her breathless.

  “Where’s Macy?” he asked when the kiss ended.

  “At Tina’s.”

  “We’d better go get her and tell her she’s getting her wish,” he said, as they began to walk toward their cars. “She’s going to get me as a daddy.”

  Daniella knew Macy would be as over the moon as she was. As she got into her car she looked up again. Yes, they were all over the moon, the Bachelor Moon that had brought them all love forevermore.

  ISBN: 978-1-4268-8504-4

  SCENE OF THE CRIME: BACHELOR MOON

  Copyright © 2011 by Carla Bracale

  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.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

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

  For questions and comments about the quality of this book please contact us at Customer_eCare@Harlequin.ca.

  ® 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.

  www.eHarlequin.com [http://www.eHarlequin.com]

 

 

 
ayscale(100%); -moz-filter: grayscale(100%); -o-filter: grayscale(100%); -ms-filter: grayscale(100%); filter: grayscale(100%); " class="sharethis-inline-share-buttons">share