by Rita Herron
He shrugged. “That’s what you did, didn’t you? Wanted to see how the other half lived?”
“That’s ridiculous.” She grabbed his arm. “I enjoyed every minute we spent together, Hayes. And making love to you had nothing to do with wanting to see how the other half lived. I’m in love with you.”
“Right.” He made a throaty sound of disbelief. “Don’t confuse love with sex, Taylor. That’s all we had together. Great sex.”
“It was great,” she said, her voice breaking. “Great because I love you, Hayes. Because we’re good together.”
“It was great sex,” he said through clenched teeth, “because someone taught you how to pleasure a man, Taylor.”
Hurt flickered across her face, and tears pooled in her eyes. He felt like a jerk, but he couldn’t retract the words. It had been painfully obvious that she didn’t want her friends to know she’d been intimate with him. He hadn’t expected different, but these past few days, for a few moments, he’d almost allowed himself to forget who she was. Where she’d come from. Where he’d come from.
That they had no future together.
She spun around, swiping at the tears, then bolted inside the ladies’ room.
His stomach churned, but he watched her go. They had to part when the case ended, anyway. No use living a fantasy that wouldn’t come true.
She’d realize he was right in no time, and then she’d move on to a man of her caliber.
And he’d be alone again, just as he always had been. Just as he liked it.
TAYLOR FELT LIKE THE BIGGEST fool in the world. Hayes didn’t love her, didn’t see her as anything more than a good lay that he’d enjoyed on the job.
She wiped at the tears, sucked in a deep breath and reminded herself that her heart would heal. Tonight was about Margaret, and she wouldn’t spoil her happiness for anything in the world. She doctored her makeup, powdered her nose and jutted her chin as she left the lounge.
Hayes stood like a sentinel outside the doorway, his Stetson pulled low, shading his eyes. “Taylor—”
“Don’t,” she said sharply. “I’m going to hire a private bodyguard so you can be dismissed immediately.”
A sardonic sound echoed from his throat. “You can hire some pretty boy if you want, but I have a job to do here and I’m not leaving until it’s done.”
She glared at him. “Fine. Just keep your distance.”
“Don’t worry,” he muttered in a low voice.
She brushed past him and rushed into the ballroom, weaving between the guests who were greeting Margaret and Devon and seating themselves for dinner. Hayes followed her, and stood away from the table by a stage area draped in red velvet.
Margaret rose and went toward him, then gestured for him to join them, but he shook his head. Taylor sipped her water, sensing he felt out of place amongst their group, but he really belonged at the table with Margaret. Still, hurt prevented her from insisting he sit and eat with them.
The dinner seemed strained, Devon and Margaret exchanging uncomfortable looks as Kenneth and Tammy joined them. Link claimed his place beside Margaret, his expression stoic. Tammy plastered herself to Kenneth all evening and Devon refused to leave Margaret’s side. But Margaret and Kenneth exchanged odd looks occasionally, making Taylor wonder what was going on.
Kenneth even went over and spoke to Hayes—she assumed he was asking about the investigation, but Kenneth seemed more ruffled than usual and tugged at his collar as he returned. Her gaze caught Margaret’s and pained emotions flickered across Margaret’s face.
Link offered a long-winded toast to Margaret and Devon, and Margaret smiled, although she glanced again at Kenneth. Taylor tensed, something passing between her friend and Kenneth, triggering a distant memory of another time when she’d seen Margaret and Kenneth together, laughing and looking at each other as if they shared something intimate.
She gasped and nearly choked on her water as the truth dawned on her. Was Kenneth the reason Margaret had never married? Had she been in love with him all these years?
Could Kenneth be Hayes’s father?
Margaret excused herself to go to the powder room and Taylor followed, well aware that Hayes dogged their movements. But as she’d requested, he maintained his distance.
Just as Taylor pushed at the door to the lounge, a loud noise ripped through the air. God, a bomb!
Taylor screamed as the door shattered, wood and glass splintered and smoke burst from the inside.
Chapter Twenty
Hayes’s heart raced as he pushed Margaret and Taylor to the floor. Dammit, someone had just tried to blow them up!
When was this madness going to end?
Smoke poured from the lounge, pieces of wood, tile, glass pelting the outer area. Screams reverberated across the grand entryway, guests running and shouting in horror.
“Taylor, Margaret, are you okay?”
Taylor turned toward him, her face streaked with soot and a line of blood. “I’m all right. Margaret?”
Margaret made a soft moan, and Hayes’s breath tightened in his chest as he gently helped her sit up. “I’m fine,” she said, although terror streaked her voice and a bruise marred her arm where she’d fallen.
“Was anyone else inside?” he asked.
Taylor shook her head. “I don’t know.”
He called 9-1-1. “We need an ambulance.” He gave the address, then punched in Brody’s number and explained what had happened. “Get a crime scene unit here ASAP and I need help questioning the guests.”
Link Hathaway, Devon Goldenrod and Kenneth Sutton all stormed toward Taylor and Margaret, concern on their faces as they hovered over the women.
Hayes crossed to the doorway where guests were trying to escape, then held up his hand and shouted. “I’m sorry, folks, but no one is leaving yet. This is a crime scene now. Everyone has to be questioned, so just settle down and relax.”
The next two hours were total chaos. Brody and Egan arrived along with two local officers, and they herded the guests back inside the ballroom and divided up to question them.
He, Brody and Egan took the major suspects while the paramedics tended to Margaret and Taylor and CSI searched the lounge. Security for the country club managed to confine the area outside to prevent others from entering or leaving.
Link, Devon and Kenneth stood guard around Margaret and Taylor, while Tammy Sutton hovered nearby, acting concerned, although she looked irritated with the attention her husband was bestowing on the other two women. Goldenrod kept one hand on Margaret’s shoulder as if to remind himself that she had survived.
Or that she was his?
Egan joined him as he walked toward the group. He desperately wanted to talk to Taylor and his mother….
His mother?
A sharp pang of fear clutched at him. He’d just found her and had almost lost her. And he hadn’t even made an attempt to get to know her.
Where did they go from here?
Did he want to try?
Then Taylor’s terrified gaze met his, and his heart clenched. He closed the distance between them, needing to verify she was safe.
Remembering the night before when they’d made love, he itched to hold her, but she frowned when he approached as if to remind him of their earlier conversation, that she’d proclaimed her love and he’d thrown it in her face.
Kenneth Sutton edged up beside him, authority in his tone. “What’s going on? Do you know who did this?”
“Not yet, but I will,” Hayes growled. “I need to speak to each of you alone.”
Kenneth frowned, and Link and Devon exchanged annoyed looks. “Margaret, you and Taylor first.”
Egan ushered Link aside to question him, and Kenneth and Tammy moved to a sofa nearby, while Brody appeared to interrogate Devon.
“Margaret, Taylor,” Hayes said, “did you see anyone leaving the lounge when you got there?”
“No,” they both murmured at once.
“Either this attempt was made on Ta
ylor alone and you got caught up in it, Margaret, or someone wanted you out of the way, too. It obviously has something to do with that P.I.’s death.”
Margaret clutched Taylor’s hands, trembling.
“Who else knows about me?” he asked.
She wet her lips. “Devon, and…this afternoon I told your father.”
Hayes’s stomach churned. “How did he react?”
“He would never do this, Hayes, I can assure you that.” Margaret’s voice cracked.
“How did he react, Margaret?”
“He was upset, angry, hurt.” Her eyes implored him to believe her. “He insisted that if he’d known, he would have been part of your life, that he would have stood by me. But he was so young and so was I.”
“Who is he?” Hayes skimmed the room. “Is he here?”
She hesitated, then nodded and lowered her voice. “Hayes…Kenneth Sutton is your father.”
Her declaration echoed in his ears. Kenneth Sutton, the city councilman? The man running for governor?
A man who wouldn’t have wanted a kid to stand in his way years ago…or now.
No wonder Margaret hadn’t told Kenneth. No wonder she’d shipped him away.
Shock and hurt clouded his thoughts, the pain so intense he thought his chest would explode.
He had to control himself, couldn’t let emotions interfere. Had to think like a Texas Ranger.
Which meant Kenneth Sutton had just jumped to the top of his suspect list for this bombing.
Would Sutton kill Taylor and Margaret to keep the truth from being revealed?
Goldenrod also had a lot to lose. He’d been all over Margaret tonight. Had been second in line to Kenneth Sutton for years. Maybe he feared that when the truth finally came out, that Margaret and Kenneth might get together and he’d lose to Sutton again.
TAYLOR HUGGED MARGARET as Hayes strode toward Kenneth.
“He wouldn’t do this,” Margaret insisted in a pained voice. “Kenneth wouldn’t hurt you or me, Taylor. He wants to make amends to Hayes. Said he’d make their relationship public, but he wanted to talk to Hayes first.”
“Does Tammy know?” Taylor asked, remembering how she’d clung to Kenneth’s side all evening.
“I don’t know.” Margaret sighed then looked up at Taylor. “What’s going on with you and Hayes, Taylor? I thought you two were…maybe involved.”
Taylor winced. She’d never been good at hiding her feelings.
“You’re in love with him, aren’t you?” Margaret asked. “If you are, it’s okay, Taylor. I’d like nothing better than to see you with my son.”
Taylor sighed. “It doesn’t matter, Margaret. He made it clear that he doesn’t have feelings for me.”
“It’s all my fault,” Margaret whispered. “I can’t blame him for the way he feels about us. He must be so hurt.”
Taylor winced. He was hurting, but she was hurt, too. She couldn’t go to him tonight or ever again, not after the things he’d said.
A minute later, Hayes returned with Kenneth in tow and escorted the four of them into a private room. Margaret gave Kenneth an apologetic look, but he shrugged it off, watching Hayes as if searching for some semblance of himself.
“Let’s lay all the cards on the table,” Hayes said dryly. “Mr. Sutton, Margaret just informed me that she told you that you have a son.”
Kenneth scrubbed a hand over his chin. “Yes. I swear I didn’t know, Hayes.”
“Not a clue?” Hayes asked bitterly.
Sutton hesitated. “No. Although…maybe I should have figured it out.”
“What do you mean by that?” Hayes asked.
Kenneth paced the room. “A while back, when Kimberly was working for me, she came to me with speculations.”
“Kimberly did?” Hayes asked.
“Yes. She claimed that you had a rare blood type, AB Negative. That’s also my blood type.”
“How did she know your blood type?” Hayes asked.
“She answered the phone for me. I get constant requests to donate blood. Then she saw a picture of me as a kid and thought there was a resemblance between us. Apparently she did some digging on her own and heard gossip that Margaret had given up a child.” He whirled around. “But I didn’t believe her. I assured her that she was wrong, that if Margaret had given birth, she would have told me. That she would never have kept a secret like that.”
Tears trickled down Margaret’s cheeks, disbelief and hurt on Kenneth’s.
Kenneth dragged his hand down his face. “I thought Kimberly was going to blackmail me so we argued and she left.”
“So you hired Montoya to kill her?” Hayes asked.
“No,” Kenneth said sharply. “Absolutely not. I would never hurt a person.” He stepped closer to Hayes, a muscle ticking in his jaw. “If I’d known about you, I would have married Margaret and been a father to you.”
“I couldn’t trap you like that,” Margaret cried.
“Our son deserved to know us,” Kenneth said emphatically. “And we could have made it work, Margaret.”
“Yeah, right,” Hayes said sarcastically. “Having a kid would have ruined your political aspirations, Sutton. And now with your bid for the governor’s chair…” He paused, and anger flared in Sutton’s eyes.
But Hayes continued, “As a last resort, you hired someone to plant a bomb to kill Taylor and Margaret tonight to protect your career.”
Kenneth reared back as if Hayes had punched him in the face. “You’re wrong. I would never hurt Margaret.” He turned a pained look her way. “Never in a million years.”
Taylor saw the truth in his eyes then and wondered if Hayes could see it. Kenneth was still in love with Margaret. She wondered if Margaret saw it, too.
Or if Tammy or Devon knew.
If so, one of them might want to get rid of her and Margaret. One of them could have set the bomb.
But Hayes said he had confirmed that Tammy was with Kenneth the night of the pool attack.
Had she lied?
Or could Devon have tried to kill her to stop her from finding the truth?
Chapter Twenty-One
Emotions ran high as Hayes drove Taylor home. Thankfully the medics had released both her and Margaret, but he had to wait until the next day to get the results on the forensics evidence from the bombing. Of course, nearly every female guest at the country club that night had been inside the lounge, so they needed fingerprints on some part of the actual bomb to pinpoint its maker.
She unlocked the door and he followed her in, willing his hands to stay put when what he really wanted to do was drag her into his arms and feel her breath on his cheek, to know that she was safe forever.
“Can I get you something, Taylor?” he asked.
She looked exhausted, her hair was disheveled, her dress stained. But he’d never thought her more beautiful. “I just want to go to bed.”
He started to follow her up the staircase, but she waved him off. “Don’t, Hayes. Just find out who set off the bomb so we can both get on with our lives.”
Her dismissal cut, but she was right.
Still, he didn’t sleep at all that night. Kept replaying the scene where he heard the explosion, where he saw his mother and Taylor both nearly die.
Dammit, he was all tied in knots.
The next morning, he called for the forensics results first thing, but they didn’t have them yet. Taylor spent most of the day in her suite, obviously avoiding him. When she finally emerged, she was dressed for the ceremony, although her eyes looked slightly puffy as if she hadn’t slept much, either.
They drove in silence to the church for pictures, and he stood to the side, again feeling like an outsider. But today as he watched Margaret, he saw the softness about her, the tender way she treated Taylor, the fear in her eyes that he would never accept her.
He had to forgive her.
But Kenneth…he didn’t quite trust that the politician would have sacrificed his life years ago to include him in his fami
ly.
“I DON’T KNOW IF I CAN GO through with the wedding.” Margaret paced the bride’s room. “Last night Devon and I had a terrible argument. He accused me of sneaking behind his back and seeing Kenneth, but that’s not true. I’ve always respected Kenneth’s marriage to Tammy. And I wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize Kenneth’s future.”
Taylor thrust a tissue into Margaret’s hand, then adjusted her veil. “Because you’re in love with him,” Taylor said quietly. “You’ve never stopped loving him, have you, Margaret? That’s the reason you stayed single all these years.”
Margaret’s face fell. “Is it so obvious?”
Taylor shook her head. “No, but you forget you’re talking to your best friend here. I saw the way the two of you were looking at each other last night.”
“It’s such a mess,” Margaret cried.
“It’s going to be all right,” Taylor said.
“How?” Margaret’s voice choked. “When I told Kenneth and saw how hurt he was, and then saw him talking to Hayes…”
She gulped back tears. “I’m going to call off the wedding. It’s not fair to Devon.”
The door squeaked open, and Tammy Sutton appeared in the doorway. Taylor frowned, wondering if Tammy had overheard them.
Then Tammy slid a gun from her purse and pointed it at them, and Taylor had her answer.
“You had to tell Kenneth and ruin everything,” Tammy snarled. “But you won’t stop this wedding.”
Margaret gasped. “You knew?”
Tammy nodded, bitterness lacing her voice when she spoke. “Your father told me years ago. And then Devon phoned to warn me that you were going to tell Kenneth.”
Margaret pressed a hand to her chest. “Devon did what?”
Tammy’s sinister laugh echoed through the room. “Yes, he wants you, Margaret. Now this is what you’re going to do,” Tammy said. “You’re going to march yourself out there and marry Devon. He loves you, and Kenneth is mine. You and that bastard kid of yours aren’t going to ruin our lives and keep him from the governor’s chair. Not after all I’ve done.”
She swung the .22 toward Taylor. “This is all your fault. You had to go nosing into things. You should have stayed out of our business.”