Gypsy Heat: A Gypsy Beach Novel

by Jillian Neal

  Suddenly, she heard the blare of the office phone from across the dock. Closing the drawer quickly, she took the bracelets and raced back to the office. She made it to the phone by the sixth ring. “Havens’ Charters, this is Nadya. Can I help you?”

  She could hear someone breathing.

  “Hello? This is Nadya. Can I help you?”

  A garbled metallic sound shrilled in her ear. She winced. “Hello?!”

  The line went dead.

  Setting it back on the receiver, Nadya ordered her heart to steady. Whatever was going on, she had to keep a level head and decide what exactly to tell Grady when he returned.

  Twenty-Three

  By that evening, she still hadn’t managed to tell Grady about the missing silver. He would be so angry even if it was Mia, and Beau had nothing to do with it. She recounted the evidence she had. The evening before, Beau had come out of the boat and talked with them. He’d left Mia alone for a few minutes, and she could easily have gone through the drawers and shoved the silver in that fancy purse she carried. Just knowing it wasn’t Beau made it so much easier to accept. It wasn’t like she couldn’t get more silver, but at some point she was going to have to prove to Beau that Mia wasn’t as great as he seemed to think she was.

  “You okay, angel? You’ve been awfully quiet all day? I miss you,” Grady confessed as he ran his fingers gently through her long hair. She had her head on his lap as they relaxed on the beach and watched the tides roll in.

  The motion still soothed her just like it had when she was sixteen. Her eyes closed from the heavenly sensation. “Yeah, I’m fine, just have a lot on my mind, I guess.”

  “You wanna get back on Wind Dancer go out and talk for a while?”

  She grinned. Truthfully, she would’ve loved that, but she couldn’t bear the thought that Mia might strike again while they were away. Nate told them that Beau was taking her over to meet Pops that night, so they were together, and that could be a disaster waiting to happen.

  “I’m okay. That was pretty cool that Leah wants to sell more of my pieces.” She tried to change the subject, but he could always see right through her.

  “Um hmm, well, your stuff is beautiful. Always has been, but that’s not what’s on your mind.”

  She shrugged against the towel beneath her. “I’m fine, Grady. I promise.”

  “Hey, no. Not again. If something is wrong, you talk. You promised me last night you would never hide from me again.” His voice was wounded and demanding. It broke her heart.

  She sat up and stared deeply into his soulful hazel eyes. “Grady, I think Mia is who is stealing stuff around town. I don’t know if Beau is helping her, but I know it’s her.”

  “How do you know?”

  Nadya’s eyes fell to the sands of Gypsy Beach, the lands that had raised them, that had raised Beau. What had happened to him? She scooped up a handful of sand and let it fall through her fingers. “She took a few pieces of antique silver I had from my kits while she was in the houseboat last night. They were worth a lot of money.”

  “What?!”

  “I mean, I think she did. She was in there alone when Beau came out to talk to us. I went to get the bracelets this morning, and my stuff had been gone through. The silver was gone.”

  Grady’s eyes closed in absolute defeat. He rubbed his hands over his face. “I have to call Bevins.” He started to get up, but she grabbed his hand to stop him.

  “No, I don’t want Beau to get in trouble. We have to confront them together and make Mia say that she took it, so he’ll believe us about her. If he has been helping her break into houses then I guess we can turn him in, but if he hasn’t, we’re going to get him in more trouble. We have to figure out how much he knows and how deep he is in all of this. We need to catch Mia red-handed.”

  “How are we supposed to do that?”

  “I don’t know, but we’ll talk to Nate and figure something out. He’s over there tonight, so if she tries to sneak in or Beau tries to leave, he’ll catch them.”

  “Then we should go confront her now.”

  “No, I want to be able to prove it. I just have to figure out how.”

  The need to move, to do something, surged through Grady’s veins, but she was right. Beau wasn’t likely to believe them over the girl that was letting him bone her with reckless abandon unless they had some pretty hard proof. That was assuming he wasn’t in on this, in which case he would still deny it endlessly. They needed proof on both of them.

  Nate had methodically gone through Beau’s room and truck. He’d found nothing suspicious other than yet another lock pick set. He’d replaced the one the police had taken for evidence.

  Three houses were hit in Forest Hills last night. Tension and disgust roiled through Grady’s gut. ‘Gypsies are thieves. They lie, and they steal. It’s who they are.’ He shuddered against the disdain that had swirled around him his entire life.

  ‘Knocked up your dirty little Gypsy whore, Havens? No one’s surprised.’ Bile-fueled memories flooded his throat. The smug look on that bitch principal’s face when he and Nadya had come in to drop out of school. ‘We tried to give you better opportunities, but some people refuse perfectly good help when it’s right in front of them. We get what we deserve in this life, what we work for. If you try to cheat the system, you end up losing, just as you should.’

  His jaw clenched tightly in defiance. He’d never tried to cheat anything or anyone ever. He’d tried to be in love, and the world had robbed him of that as well. He wasn’t letting Nadya, or Nate, or his father go down for Beau’s stupidity. He just wasn’t. He had to do something.

  The moonlit ocean beckoned him again, but he couldn’t run from this. He had to calm down and come up with a plan. Nadya was right. Acting too soon could be a disaster for all of them. The police, Sinclair especially, were looking to pin this on someone with Gypsy blood. Even if Beau was in on it, it had to be because of Mia. He had to figure out how to prove that. He needed to think.

  “Nad, please, come out on Wind Dancer with me, just for a little while. I need to think.”

  “Okay, but shouldn’t we stay here? You know, in case they come by or something.”

  “Nate’s got them tonight. I have to figure out how to catch her in the act.”

  “We have to figure this out. We’re a team, remember? No more doing things on our own without the other one.”

  “Okay, I know. I promise. I just need to drive to think.”

  She took his outstretched hands and let him pull her up off of the sand. They headed towards the boat. Two minutes later, Grady had Wind Dancer flying across the incoming tide, his mind as volatile as the sea that night. A storm was rolling in. The waters always reacted before the clouds. He’d never understand why the weathermen didn’t get that. You didn’t have to do anything more than watch the churn of the water to predict what was coming.

  Twenty-Four

  By eleven, Grady had come up with absolutely nothing of any value to help with the case laid before them. Nadya had brilliantly suggested phoning Nate and getting him to attempt to go through Mia’s car, which was parked in Pop’s driveway. Nate had done the best he could since her doors were locked, but he hadn’t seen anything suspicious. She drove a late model Honda. The car, at least, didn’t appear to have been stolen.

  Nate had also informed them that Mia was staying the night with Beau. Pops certainly didn’t care. He’d never cared when Nadya had stayed over. Nate was planning on staying up most of the night to make sure they never made an escape.

  Grady stared up at the sky from the window over the bed in his houseboat. That night, even having Nadya tucked up safely in his arms didn’t soothe his soul. His mind was restless. His body primed for a fight that wasn’t coming. He’d debated getting up, waking Nadya, going over to his father’s house, jerking Beau up out of the bed — he didn’t give a damn what he was doing with his cock at that moment — and demanding to know what the hell he thought he was doing. He didn’t. He couldn
’t. Though the bruises were now gone, Nadya still wasn’t fully healed from her ordeal or their lengthy time apart. She needed to sleep, and she was always his top priority.

  He eased gently to his side so he could cradle her closer. If she was in his arms, he would be all right. That was all that would ever matter.

  Still not even close to sleep, his body tensed when his cell phone buzzed on the window sill beside him. Leaning upwards, he studied the screen. His heart thundered out of rhythm. He stared at the camera showing him the side entrance to the office. Someone was picking the lock. Someone that was not Beau and sure as hell was not Mia.

  He eased away from Nadya and debated his next move. She was sound asleep, exhausted from worry and tension, and all she’d been through. He dragged a pair of basketball shorts over his boxers and decided against his flip-flops. He didn’t want to make a single sound. Grabbing his knife, he took one glance back at Nadya, wondering if he should tell her where he was going. She would be afraid if she woke up alone, so he stole another second and rushed back to her.

  “Nady, wake up for me.” She blinked several times. Her brow furrowed in confusion.

  “What?” Panic shot through her body. Her chin trembled as she frantically searched for some kind of incoming assault.

  “Shh, shh, it’s okay. Just listen to me. Stay right here. Promise me, angel, that you will not leave this boat. Someone’s trying to break in the office. I’ll take care of them and call Bevins, but you stay right here so I know you’re safe, okay?”

  She swallowed down raw fear and managed a half nod. “What if you need help?”

  “I’ll call Nate.” He rushed through that process. Nate headed out the door, promising to be there in a minute flat.

  “Be careful!” Nadya pled.

  “I’ll be fine, angel. Just stay right here. I’ll be right back.”

  Grady slipped quietly into the shadows of the ships as he headed towards the office. He watched the intruders every move on the screen of his phone. By then, the little lock-pick thief had made his way inside, only he wasn’t stealing anything. No, he’d come to make another delivery. Beau wasn’t going to be enough it seemed. The little prick planned to take down the whole Havens family their business included.

  Nadya paced back and forth on the boat. She was terrified to turn on any lights, afraid she might alert the intruder to Grady. She returned to the bed and crawled under the covers, shivering in spite of herself.

  Suddenly, the boat gave an odd lurch. The blood in Nadya’s veins seized and then trickled slowly through her veins like icy water. She got up on her knees to see out the window, but it just couldn’t be. It was impossible. The houseboat was weighted and tied to the dock. Grady had pulled it out of the water before the storm had hit, but that was the last time it had been moved. So, why … why was she floating out to sea?

  Grady made it through the bay doors and slid silently along the wall watching the kid in his office quickly set down another laptop, a few cell phones, two iPads, and some kind of video game system. When he reached into the large bag, he’d carried, to pull out a small flat screen television, Grady leapt. He threw on the lights and had the kid on the ground in a half second. Nate raced in from the front door and bound the kid’s flailing legs.

  Standing, Grady jerked him upwards. “Motherfucker, you really think I wouldn’t catch you?” he bellowed in ire.

  “You’re the kid that was hiding behind the houseboat the other day.” Nate studied his face. “What the hell, man? I’m calling the cops. We just caught you red-handed.”

  “What’s your name?” Grady demanded, but the kid remained tight-lipped.

  In that moment, everyone’s head jerked to the right as Beau and Mia raced through the front doors. “Grady, I can’t find Pops!”

  “What?” Absolute panic shot through his weary veins.

  “I don’t know where he went. Did you leave the front door unlocked when you went running out?” He turned to Nate. “You can’t do that. His medicine wears off at night. He wanders around.”

  “I didn’t know that. Grady called. I just got over here as quick as I could.” Nate sounded as horrified as Grady felt.

  “That’s why I keep a lock pick set.” Beau all but whimpered. “He’s changed the locks on the house twice on me. He gets spooked and doesn’t remember that I live there too. It was easier to just break in, plus I was worried about him getting into trouble if he was locked in the house alone for too long. I didn’t want to tell you how bad he’s gotten. You take care of everybody, Grady. I tried to take care of Pops for you.” Suddenly, Beau’s brow furrowed as he studied the kid Grady was still holding by his neck while Nate bound his hands behind his back with boat rope.

  “Sean? What the fuck are you doing here?” he huffed.

  “Oh my God!” Mia gasped in shock. “It was you. You tried to set Beau up for this. You even used those old Gypsy marking things. Are you seriously that stupid? Gypsies are people just like we are. Some are good and some are bad, but none of them are as horrible as you! I hate you. How could you do this to him? I knew you would do something, but even I never thought you’d stoop to something so low.”

  Nadya had positioned herself as far to the back of the boat as she could manage while still remaining standing. The bed blocked her from making a further retreat. She stared at a face she never, ever wanted to see again. How the hell had he found her?

  “What are you doing here?” she demanded, but her voice shook in her terror.

  “Did you really think, Nadya, that I would let you come back to someone like him? Did you really believe that I would just allow you to make a mockery of me and of our marriage by coming back to some Gypsy scum fisherman so you can be his whore all over again? I tried to save you from your disgusting heritage, but no, you wanted to rush back into it like the ridiculous child you are.

  “I was here before you ever even arrived. I’ve been watching you the entire time. Every night you broke your vows to me by screwing around with the likes of him. I saw you strip for him on dock last night like the whore you are and always have been. You disgust me, Nadya.”

  “This boat doesn’t have a motor, you moron!” she screeched. “The tide is going out now. We can’t get back. We’re floating out to sea, if we don’t crash into the islands!”

  “Do you think I care, darling? You’ve ruined my name and our marriage. I can’t return to my life now. What I can’t understand is how you thought I wouldn’t seek retribution for all you cost me. I do not like losing, Nadya.”

  Nate was pacing. “We have to go look for Pops. He couldn’t have gotten far. He’s probably coming here. I hope.”

  “You go. I’ll come as soon as the police arrive for our little friend here.” Grady was sick. How could he have thought Beau had done this? They stared down at the punk culprit Nate and Grady had bound to a chair in the office.

  “Your dad is going to flip,” Beau challenged Sean derisively, but suddenly Nate’s eyes goggled as he halted at the bay doors.

  “Grady … where’s Nadya?”

  “I told her to stay on the houseboat until I caught this ass-wipe.”

  “Uh huh, figured that, but where the hell is the houseboat?”

  “What!” Grady shoved Nate out of his way and sprinted out towards the dock. He lifted half of the ropes from the dock posts. They’d been cut clean with a sharp knife.

  Moving on instinct alone, he flew to other end of the dock and leapt onto Wind Dancer. Beau had followed him out the doors and jumped on board behind him.

  “What are you doing?” Grady didn’t have time for his baby brother’s nonsense right now.

  “I’m helping you save Nadya. How the hell are you going to drive one boat and get her off of another one?”

  Knowing he owed Beau quite a bit, in that moment all he could do was nod his appreciation. He had Wind Dancer out of her slip faster than he’d ever had her out before. Nate hit all of the dock lights and illuminated what he could so Grady had a b
etter chance of seeing. There, headed towards the horizon, was his houseboat, floating and spinning in rapid jerks and twists as it whirled out to sea, a ship never meant to sail.

  “I almost had you that night at that ridiculous Inn. At least then you were keeping yourself chaste. That branch fell out of nowhere. It almost hit me. I would have made it in and had you if it hadn’t scared you into running.”

  There’s Gypsy magic on this shoreline, my beautiful Nady. You are a part of our heritage. You are a part of our magic. It will keep you. Nana Cooper. ‘Nana sent me a present from beyond? She knew you’d be back. Maybe Nana pushed that branch down.’

  That branch hadn’t just fallen. Nana had sent her a warning.

  “It was you. It was always you!” Nadya felt her body convulse in abject disgust. “You were who Sinclair saw on the dock that day. You were watching me on the beach. You were in here last night, while we were gone. You took the silver!”

  “You left me with nothing. I was looking for your ring. The silver was a small repayment for taking the money when you left.”

  “I was the one that earned it. It is my money, you motherfucking asshole! Get out of my way.” Nadya shoved past Peter, letting her gall and her Gypsy soul drive her.

  He grasped her wrists. “And who do you think allowed you to earn all of that money? I should never have let you have that ridiculous business. It gave you ideas. You were put here to serve me as your husband, and never anything more.”

  “My ring is in the bottom of the Pacific, Peter, and that was the wrong thing to say.” She jerked her extended hands that were bound by his fists straight up, slamming his lower jaw into his upper. He spun away from her with a furious gasp of pain.