“Any luck?”
Cole turned to see Eden standing at the entryway of the living room.
“Not a lot. She acts like she’s the queen and every person should pay her court. In between her pompous bragging about everything the Fairchilds have done for this state—hell, the entire world—we were interrupted about ten times. Every one of them was some big shot in town who acted as though he couldn’t wipe his ass without her permission.”
Eden laughed but Cole winced. Dammit, years ago that kind of talk would have gotten his mouth soaped down. “Sorry, that was crude.”
Eden’s twinkling eyes told him she wasn’t the least bit offended. “The imagery was a bit gross, but it was funny all the same.”
“Where’s Keeley?”
“In the children’s room.” She smiled. “Bath time.”
Cole nodded and, taking the steps three at a time, headed to the children’s room. What he’d told Eden was true. The visit with Elizabeth had been full of interruptions. But he’d been able to glean enough from her to come up with a couple of interesting theories. He hadn’t mentioned it to Eden because he wanted to dig a little deeper first. Maybe his suspicions were all wrong.
Cole pushed the bathroom door open to splashing and giggles. A pain wrenched deep inside him as an unexpected memory sliced through his heart. Jill and Cassidy and bath time. They used to sing silly songs as Cassidy splashed and played and Jill giggled. Cole remembered standing in the doorway, as he was now, and smiling as he listened to them.
Keeley and Hannah were apparently enjoying their time together, too, though it appeared that Hannah liked the splashing part much more than the actual bath. Keeley was laughing as she tried to dodge the soak-fest and bathe her daughter.
Not wanting to intrude, Cole backed out of the door. He must have made a sound, because Keeley looked up before he had a chance to leave.
“Cole? Everything okay?”
“Yes, sorry to interrupt. Just wanted to tell you I was back.”
Holding on to her daughter’s hand, Keeley stood. “Did you get anything else from Elizabeth?”
Every thought in his head disappeared. The thin white T-shirt Keeley wore was soaked, as was her bra. Everything beneath the damp clothing showed in voluptuous and explicit detail. Cole clamped his mouth shut to keep from groaning as he admired what could only be considered art in its purest form.
Earlier today his hands had been on those luscious mounds, and now, more than ever, he bitterly resented the interruption that had kept him from seeing them in their full beauty. Keeley’s breasts were beautiful and bountiful; brown nipples, hard and peaked, jutted beneath the shirt.
Lust slammed hard and fast. Turning away before she could see the evidence of what she was doing to him, he muttered “No” to her question and shut the door quickly before she could say anything else.
Keeley pressed a kiss to her sleeping daughter’s forehead. After three “Once upon a time” stories, two “extra special” prayers to bring Hailey home, and a drink of water, she was finally asleep.
Tears pooled in her eyes as she gazed down at her dark-haired angel. Tonight was the first time Hannah had willingly mentioned her sister. The psychologist had recommended that Keeley not mention Hailey’s name. And as hard as it had been, she hadn’t. Tonight, Hannah had said her sister’s name.
Keeley had been listing people for the Lord to bless. She’d said Hannah’s name, and without any prompting, Hannah had said, “And Hailey, too.” It hadn’t been more than that but it was a start.
Unable to resist one more kiss, Keeley leaned down. Cold dampness pressed into her skin and for the first time she realized how wet her shirt was. That thought led her to another: Cole’s abrupt answer and his expression when he’d closed the door so quickly. She looked down at her damp shirt and realized that Cole had probably seen an out-and-out peep show. A wet T-shirt contest without the benefit of a bar. No wonder he’d looked so … How had he looked? Sexual. Predatory. Hot. His expression had held awareness, desire … lust. Those amazing eyes had darkened as they’d zeroed in on her breasts.
Keeley headed to her room for a clean, dry shirt. Despite the warning in her head that being attracted to the dark and dangerous Cole Mathison wasn’t like the sensible person she’d always considered herself to be, she couldn’t help the increased rhythm of her heart or the tantalizing thought that flashed through her. Would Cole be interested in more than what they’d shared weeks ago?
Even in the first blush of their marriage, Stephen had never looked at her like that. His first priority had always been to pleasure himself. If Keeley happened to find pleasure, well, that was a plus but not something he strived for. Stephen always came first, in more ways than one.
Of course, after what she’d learned today, it made sense that he hadn’t cared about her needs. If her suspicions were true, she’d been his pawn to defy and infuriate his mother. Never having had a boyfriend and rarely dating, she’d been the perfect patsy. Her lack of experience and innocence must have seemed like a gift to him.
Cole’s heated expression had been completely different from Stephen’s lackadaisical interest. The desire in his eyes had been a promise of fulfillment for both of them. She had experienced that fulfillment. Knew how satisfying it was … and despite the knowledge that it wasn’t wise and sensible, she wanted to experience it again.
Keeley changed to a dry bra, then took a shirt from her closet and pulled it over her head. Her thoughts went back to their conversation this afternoon before Cole had kissed her. Was that really the only reason Stephen had married her? To spite his mother? That seemed extreme, even for someone as shallow as Stephen.
Naïve and gullible she might be, but Keeley resisted believing that was the only purpose for their marriage. Taking a pen and paper from her desk, she sat down in her favorite chair. An image of Stephen popped into her head. Though she knew the greatest blessings from their marriage were her daughters, other thoughts suddenly came to mind—events she hadn’t allowed herself to think about since before his death. When she discovered he had been unfaithful, she’d buried any good thoughts of him. Now it was time to determine if her judgment had been totally skewed when it came to her husband.
Her hand flew across the page. Twenty minutes later, she looked down at what she had written—five pages filled with memories of her life with Stephen. While many of them were painful to relive, there were several sweet ones. Movies they had enjoyed together, jokes they had shared. During long walks, they would sometimes hold hands and he would talk about his childhood, how much he’d loved his father and how he was always trying to protect Miranda from his mother’s meanness.
One particularly poignant moment was when the twins were born. He’d held them in his arms and tears had rolled down his face.
So she had a choice. She could assume every good thing about their marriage was a lie, or she could accept that while his motives may not have been the purest and he hadn’t been the husband she’d hoped for, he’d had some redeeming qualities and their marriage hadn’t been a total sham. Keeley chose the latter.
More at peace with Stephen than she had been in years, she stood, the sudden need to see Cole taking over. He’d told her he had learned nothing, but there had to be a reason he came upstairs to see her. The little peep show she’d unintentionally given him might have distracted him from what he had to tell her.
She tried to convince herself that brushing her hair and applying a pale pink lip gloss just to speak with Cole meant nothing—that she would do that for anyone. But she knew that wasn’t true, so why lie? She wanted to look nice for Cole.
She made herself walk slowly downstairs. At the entrance to her office, Keeley stopped. Cole sat at the desk, flipping through pages of his notes. Since he didn’t seem aware that she was there, Keeley took a few seconds to look at him. Whenever he turned those amazing eyes on her, she had difficulty concentrating. Being able to look at him without his knowing it was a treat. He was a beaut
iful man; there was no denying that. Well over six feet tall, and built like … she mentally shook her head trying to come up with an apt description. Jenna’s description of “Greek god” seemed too trite, yet she couldn’t deny the appropriateness.
Tall; even to her five feet ten inches, Cole towered over her. Whenever he moved, the muscles rippled under his shirt, and her fingers literally ached to touch his broad shoulders, wrap her hands around a biceps. She regretted not taking advantage of that opportunity when they’d made love before. If she was ever given another chance, she wouldn’t make the same mistake.
When she saw him close his eyes and press his fingers to his temple, she came out of her lustful trance. Poor man was suffering from a headache and all she could think about was how gorgeous he was.
“Another headache?”
He opened his eyes and shrugged. “Not bad.”
She came into the room and settled on the small sofa a few feet from him. “Have you ever seen a doctor for your headaches?”
A dry, humorless laugh burst from him. “Yeah.”
Apparently he wasn’t going to share any information about his headaches. That made her sad. He didn’t look like he was one to share things with anyone. She was fortunate that she had Jenna and Miranda she could talk to. Who did Cole go to when he needed to get something off his chest?
“Keeley, did you hear me?”
She shook herself out of this odd mood. “Sorry … no. What?”
The look he gave her made her think he knew exactly what she’d been thinking earlier. Her insides shuddered and then everything went warm and liquid. Heat rushed to every erogenous zone she had.
“Keeley?”
She watched as he walked around the desk and then stood before her. Unable to stop herself, she got to her feet and found herself within inches of him. When he didn’t back away, she raised her hands and pressed her fingers to his temples, using firm but gentle pressure to massage him.
Surprising her, his hands pulled her shoulders toward him as he backed up. She followed him until he leaned against the edge of the desk. Before she knew it, she was between his legs.
Continuing to rub his temples, she watched his eyes close. All sorts of emotions hit her. Gratitude to be able to do something to ease him, along with tenderness, admiration, and a deep yearning to do more than just ease his headache.
Cole opened his eyes and stared into hers. That one look said so much—heat, desire, and caring.
Keeley leaned forward to place a soft kiss to his mouth. Before her lips could touch his, Cole straightened and jerked her hands away from his head. “Thanks. That feels better.”
Hurt slammed into her like a freight train. She’d been rejected so many times, this shouldn’t hurt that badly. But it did.
Cole went around the desk and dropped back into the chair.
Resisting the urge to just run out of the room and go bury her red face into a cool pillow, Keeley forced herself to stand still. “So you got nothing from Elizabeth.”
“More questions than answers.”
“What kind of questions?”
“How well do you know Miranda?”
Startled, she sat down on the couch again. “She’s been a good friend to me. Why?”
“But what do you know about her life? What she does?”
“She’s a full-time mom. Gets involved in a lot of school projects. Does some volunteer work.”
“What about the father of her baby? Where is he?” Keeley grimaced. “Some guy she met in college … he took off when she told him she was pregnant.”
She hated gossip, but if Cole had questions about Miranda, she’d rather be the one to tell him. “How does she get along with her mother?”
“She doesn’t. She mostly stays out of her way.”
“With her money, why can’t she live on her own?” She bit her lip. This was a sensitive subject and one she was surprised he didn’t already know. “Miranda doesn’t have access to all that money.”
“I thought the Fairchilds had millions.”
“They do; however, when Miranda’s father died, he left Stephen in charge of the finances for both him and Miranda. Miranda has an allowance until she’s either married or she turns thirty.”
“What happened when Stephen died?”
“The control went back to Elizabeth.”
“But why live at home? Expose her daughter to someone like Elizabeth?”
“I think she tries to keep Maggie away from Elizabeth as much as possible, but Miranda left school once she got pregnant and came back home to live.”
“Couldn’t she get a job … live somewhere else?” Keeley shrugged. “A Fairchild working like a regular person in this town wouldn’t go over well with Elizabeth.”
“There’s a whole world out there, outside of Fairview. Plenty of places for Miranda and Maggie to go where Elizabeth Fairchild has no influence.”
“I think Miranda has her reasons for staying. She’s private about a lot of things. Maybe she’s waiting until she’s old enough to inherit all of her money.”
“Did Stephen not leave her anything?”
“Some … I don’t know how much.”
“So she could probably use some extra money.”
Her head was already shaking before he finished his sentence. “No. There’s no way Miranda would be involved with Hailey and Hannah’s abduction. She adores them.”
His expression unreadable, he shrugged. “Elizabeth rambled on about a lot of things today. One of those was the amount of time Miranda spends away from home, away from her daughter. Elizabeth claims she has no idea what she does. And apparently doesn’t care enough to find out.”
“Well, whatever it is has nothing to do with Hailey and Hannah, I can assure you.”
“I’ve interviewed her a couple of times … she’s got secrets.”
“Everyone has secrets. You included. Right?”
His eyes went harder than she’d ever seen them as he stood and muttered, “You’re right. Good night.” Walking around her, he went out the door before she could say anything else.
Keeley bit her lip to keep from calling him back. He had shut her out again. Maybe she’d misread his desire earlier. Maybe their kiss this afternoon had been all about comforting her and she’d projected her lust onto him. Heaven knew she didn’t have much experience in the area of attracting men.
She didn’t bother to tell herself his rejection didn’t hurt; she wasn’t that good of a liar.
Wes pulled a beer from his fridge, unscrewed the cap, and guzzled half of it in one swallow. Damn hot summer. He’d be glad to get somewhere cooler. The place he’d picked out to take Keeley was way up in the mountains. It’d be cooler up there … private, too. Not a soul around to hear her scream.
The cellphone on his table buzzed. He didn’t want to answer it. She’d be calling for an update. Damned if he wanted to talk to her when he was dripping with sweat. On the other hand, she might have some news on his little rendezvous with Keeley. Taking a chance, he grabbed the phone and snarled, “What?”
“When are you going to do the job I hired you for?”
“Listen, bitch. If you want this done right, you’ll give me some time. Setting something like this up ain’t as easy as you seem to think. That job I done for you before was a no-brainer compared to this one.”
“It’s been almost two weeks. What exactly is taking so long?”
He wasn’t about to tell her the truth. Cole Mathison was damn hard to follow. Every time he thought he had him, the bastard would somehow disappear. It was like he knew something.
“I can get into Fort Knox a lot easier than I can that damn mansion. He ain’t exactly making it easy for me.”
“The sooner you do the job, the sooner you’ll get your reward.”
“I’m going to do it and soon. You just be ready to cough up not only the money you promised, but the woman, too. You double-cross me this time, and it’ll take years for them to find all your parts. You got
that?”
She was silent for a long time. Finally she said, “You do your job. I’ll do mine.” The line went dead.
Wes cursed. Damn woman hung up on him. Not that he had anything else to say to her, but he didn’t appreciate the disrespect. Maybe once he had Keeley, he’d figure out a way to make the bitch pay for all the aggravation she’d caused. It’d been a long time since he’d done any killing, but it wasn’t something he really minded doing. As long as he didn’t get caught, there wasn’t a lot Wes wouldn’t do.
First he’d take care of Cole Mathison, then he’d get Keeley. Then, before he left town, he’d kill the bitch.
Wes took another slug of his beer. Sounded like a damn fine plan to him.
seventeen
Standing at the window in the girls’ bedroom, Keeley leaned her forehead against the cool glass and closed her eyes. She was determined to hold herself together today. She could do this; she had to do this. It was a special day for Hannah. June 20: the twins’ birthday.
She would do everything she could to make it as memorable as possible. Hannah was so excited, and Keeley wanted her to stay that way. The little imp had woken before dawn this morning, thrilled that it was her birthday. Now she was asleep in the playroom, but by the time the cake arrived at two o’clock, she would be awake and full of energy for her party.
The presents had been ordered weeks ago. Though Keeley had purchased two of everything, only Hannah would receive her presents. When Hailey returned, she would get hers. And she would return. She would!
“What’s wrong?” Cole asked behind her.
She straightened and gripped the windowsill, not wanting to turn around and let him see the tears that were streaming down her face. When he touched her shoulder, it was all she could do not to throw herself into his arms.
Last Chance 05 - Second Chance Page 18