He shoved the thought away, peeled the wrapper and unrolled the rubber over his cock. Then he was back between her legs. Her eyes met his, dark, hungry, fathomless. Something flickered in his chest, but he ignored it, sinking into her. She wrapped around him, slick and oh-so-tight. A groan tore free, mingling with her soft gasp.
He hesitated, giving her a chance to adjust to his invasion, but when she began to wriggle, he started to move, thrusting long and deep. Her legs wrapped around his waist, feet pressed to his backside, urging him on. He pushed harder, faster. Her sexy little moans and whimpers whispered across his throat.
The air filled with the sounds of their ragged breath, the slap of flesh against flesh. He slipped one hand beneath her backside, gripped her ass as he pumped deeper into her. He was lost in the moment, lost in her, in the sound and smells of frantic sex.
She cried out beneath him, her inner walls squeezing tight, milking his cock and sending him flying to his own release. He thrust into her a final time, stiffened, emptying himself inside her, every muscle rigid, trembling, until he collapsed on top of her.
God!
His body shook, nerves frayed and jerky. Closing his eyes, he waited for his heart to slow and his breathing to return to normal. Vaguely, he felt Brynn’s fingers toying with his hair. Her heart beat rapid against his ear.
“I must be crushing you,” he panted, and rolled onto his side. When his breathing returned close enough to normal he could sit up without passing out, he propped himself up on one elbow and looked down at her.
A soft smile played at the corners of her lips, her heavy-lidded eyes dark and sleepy. “I should stick my foot in my mouth more often.”
He grinned and kissed her. “I’ll be back.”
He padded to the bathroom, disposed of the condom and cleaned himself up. By the time he returned to the bed, Brynn’s eyes were closed.
“I don’t think I can stay up with you to wait for the ghost.”
“That’s all right.” He slipped between the blankets. “Get some sleep. I’m here.”
She sighed and snuggled closer, fitting perfectly against his side. Absently, he toyed with the ends of her hair.
She’d be leaving soon. He supposed there was no real rush to see her ghost. Soon she’d be away from Stonecliff, away from him, and safe.
It’s your birthday today. You’re eleven, and my thoughts are filled with you. With every year that passes, I’m tempted to bring you home to me, but it’s too soon. You’re not strong enough for the darkness here. Sometimes I think I’m not either.
I wonder why you never write, if you’re angry. I wonder what your grandparents tell you about me. I ache to think of you so far away, but I can at least draw comfort knowing you’re safe from the evil here.
One day, when you’re old enough, I hope you’ll forgive me for letting you go, that you will come here and give me the chance to explain, and I will finally be able to be a mother to you.
Happy birthday, my darling Brynn.
All my love,
Mom
Carefully, Brynn refolded the letter, stacked it with the others and secured the bundle with a rubber band before slipping them into the side pocket of her suitcase. How could the woman who had written her these letters be the same woman Eleri described?
Brynn had woken wrapped in a sense of well-being, Reece’s arm slung over her waist, his chest pressed against her back. Heat had flicked out into her limbs with the memory of his hands and mouth moving over her body, only to cool instantly as the rest of yesterday had flooded her head. She’d slipped from the bed, dressed and dug out her mother’s letters.
Eleri had to be lying. But why would she? What did ruining Meris’s memory do for Eleri?
If Brynn believed village gossip, Eleri was crazy, had killed at least one man and probably three others. Letting Brynn believe her mother was a child abuser was probably just another sick game.
Yet Brynn couldn’t reconcile the woman who had so desperately wanted Brynn to remember what had happened at The Devil’s Eye to the cold-blooded legend created around Eleri. There was also the small fact that Eleri hadn’t tried to drown Brynn when she was a child, no matter what everyone else believed. If Eleri were innocent of one crime, what did that mean for the rest?
“What time is it?” Reece’s sleep-thickened voice interrupted her thoughts.
Brynn stood—her sore knee twinged from kneeling on the floor for so long—and walked to the side of the bed.
Reece looked so different while he slept. His features relaxed, softened, and her fingers had itched to trace his broad cheekbones, the sharp angle of his jaw. Awake, his face was granite once more.
“Early.” She nodded to the gap in the drapes. “The sky’s just starting to lighten.”
He nodded and pushed up on his elbows, and the covers slipped dangerously low at his waist. Last night, everything had been so frantic she hadn’t the chance look at him, to admire the broad shoulders, narrow hips and lean hard muscle. She wanted to touch him, explore planes and ridges on his chest and belly, press her mouth to his flesh and taste his salty skin.
He groaned. “God, don’t look at me like that. I only had the one bloody condom.”
“Sorry.” Her face heated, but she couldn’t fight the grin pulling at her mouth. “Guess you should keep yourself better stocked.”
He chuckled, shoved back the blankets and stood. “Believe me, were you staying on, I would.”
She nipped her lip and turned away, pretending making the bed required all her attention.
“You are leaving today, yeah?” he asked, dragging on his jeans and T-shirt.
She shrugged. “Probably.”
“Probably?” His tone cooled considerably.
Did he think she was staying because of last night, that she had developed romantic delusions about what had happened between them? A strange mix of hurt and annoyance churned inside her. “There are things I need to do before I go.”
She turned and his icy stare pinned her where she stood.
“You’re not safe here, Brynn. When are you going to take that seriously?”
“Eleri took me to The Devil’s Eye so that I would remember what happened when I was a child. She didn’t try to kill me then and she didn’t try to kill me yesterday.”
“You were three,” Reece ground out. “You can’t possibly know for certain Eleri wasn’t the one.”
She bristled. “Don’t talk to me like I’m an idiot. I know what those hands felt like. I know Eleri wasn’t there.”
“I’m sorry.” His shoulders sagged. “I just…I’m worried. Even if Eleri didn’t try to drown you, there are still four murdered men.”
“One murdered, three missing. Eleri was in Manchester when Matthew Langley was killed.” Her own words lacked conviction—probably because she wasn’t certain she believed them herself. She needed to sift lie from fact, and it started with her mother.
If Eleri had lied to her about Meris, all bets were off. She needed to see Dylis.
“Let’s say you’re right.” Reece dropped onto the sofa. “And Eleri had nothing to do with you or Matthew Langley. What about Griffin Paskin, Daniel Forbes and Billy Lewis?”
She wished she had an answer for him. “I can’t leave, not until I know what happened, or I’ve at least exhausted every possible avenue. If I go now, I’ll always wonder. Besides, it could have been me.”
His straight brows drew together. “What do you mean?”
“What if I’d stayed—all the stories and rumors could have been about me.”
He shook his head. “No one would say that about you.”
“At the pub, I met a man who told me if I stayed the rotten ground here would turn me like Eleri. How long would I have to be here before people blamed me for men disappearing?”
“Who said that?”
“He used to be the groundskeeper here before they sent me away.”
Reece folded his arms over his chest and cocked his head to one side
. “Thomas Grady is a drunk and half out of his mind most of the time. You can’t take what he says seriously.”
She shrugged and stared.
He sighed. “Have you many avenues left to exhaust, then?”
“I want to speak to Dylis again, and Thomas mentioned the housekeeper who worked here when my mother was alive. Hopefully, they could at least confirm some of the things I’ve heard since I’ve come back.”
“I said the man’s out of his bloody mind, yeah?”
She shot him a wry smirk. “I believe you mentioned something along those lines.”
He stood and closed the space between them. “I don’t mean to be a shit, but I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
“You’re thinking of that ghost’s warning?”
His gaze held hers. “I am.”
“I’ll be fine. I’m going to pub to see Dylis then try to track down that housekeeper. I won’t even be at Stonecliff today.”
“I’ll go with you.”
“What about your job?”
“I’m not going to risk anything happening to you.”
Her chest warmed, but she squashed the sensation immediately. They liked each other, had good sex, but she couldn’t afford to confuse that with actual emotion.
“You can’t lose this job. What about Harding?”
“I don’t give a shit about any of that.” He cupped her face, ran his thumb along her cheek. “Not when it comes to you.”
“If you lose your job, I’m alone here.”
Chapter Fourteen
Brynn had put him in a hell of spot.
Reece crept down the back stairs as quietly as he could manage. He’d stayed too long in her room caught in an argument that got him absolutely nowhere. He wanted her away from Stonecliff, safe. Yet the self-serving part of him was thrilled that she’d be there another night.
Between Harding’s games, the boy’s warning, shadow ghosts he’d never heard of and everything else happening on the estate, he shouldn’t be so damned pleased.
He was drawn to her, liked her more than any one woman he could remember. Maybe it was the novelty of being with someone who knew everything about him and still wanted him. Or maybe one night of bloody fantastic sex had barely scraped the surface of what he wanted to do with her, to her.
Reece left the stairwell and hurried toward the kitchen, hoping to slip out the back door before anyone caught sight of him.
“Mr. Conway,” Warlow called out. The kitchen door was just a few feet away.
Reece tensed and turned slowly.
The butler sauntered closer, bright gaze studying Reece’s every detail. “You’re about early. What are you doing in the house?”
Reece hoped the man didn’t notice he was still dressed in yesterday’s clothes. He slid his hands into his pockets and shrugged. “I was sorting the light switch in Brynn’s room.”
If experience had taught him anything, the best lies always held a kernel of truth. He’d have to find Brynn and tell her what he’d said.
Warlow’s mouth twitched. “Just the switch?”
Dawning slammed into him like a kick to the chest, thrusting the air from his lungs. Warlow had done it, tampered with Brynn’s lights. Whatever the hell haunted Stonecliff, Warlow had set it on Brynn.
“A piece of plastic was wedged in it.” God, he hoped he didn’t sound as stunned as he felt.
“All sorted, then?”
He nodded, dumbly.
“Tell me, did Ms. James happen to mention when she would be departing?”
Was that what he’d been after, frightening her off? Dull fury burned through Reece’s initial shock. The urge to swing, smash his fist into the butler’s face, rose up fast. His hands bunched inside his pockets.
“She didn’t say.”
Warlow nodded. “You have that retaining wall to see to, isn’t that right Mr. Conway?”
“Right.” One day he was going to knock that pompous ass flat.
Reece left the house. Cool, wet wind slapped at his bare skin, but the fresh air was a welcome relief. He inhaled deeply, released his breath and turned back to gray stone looming over him.
What was in that house? What had Brynn seen and how was it clever enough to avoid him?
Whatever it was, the butler knew enough to use it.
* * *
Brynn knocked on the pub door and waited. A moment later the rough wood opened a few inches and Dylis’s puffy face peered out from a narrow gap. “We’re closed.”
Brynn blinked, the woman’s clipped tone catching her off guard. Dylis had been so kind to her when she’d been here last. Of course, Brynn had gone on to get falling-down drunk, Reece having to practically carry her out.
“I realize that.” Empty parking lot and locked door had been dead giveaways, after all. “I wanted to apologize for the other night. I hadn’t eaten and those drinks hit me harder than I was expecting.”
“No harm done.”
Dylis started to close the door, but Brynn pressed her forearm to the wood, forcing it open. “Wait, please. I’ve heard things about my mother, and you’re the only person who might be able to tell me what’s true or not.”
Dylis tensed, eyes narrowing. “What have you heard?”
“Did Meris lock Eleri in a cellar when she was small?”
On a heavy sigh, Dylis opened the door the rest of the way. “You better come in.”
Brynn’s stomach sank like an icy stone. It was true.
She followed Dylis into the dark pub. During the day, without the lights or the glow from the fire, the charm and warmth had gone leaving the room cold and damp and smelling of stale booze.
Dylis grabbed a pack of cigarettes off the bar and nodded to one of the tables. “Sit down.”
Brynn sat opposite Dylis, while the older woman shook a cigarette from the package and slipped it between her lips. “You need to understand, there’s always been something wrong with that girl. Your mother lived in terror of her. Even when Eleri was small, she was wild, possessed. She bit and clawed. Meris always had marks on her. She was afraid Eleri would eventually kill you all in your beds. Locking the girl away was the only peace your mother ever knew with that horrid creature living under her roof.”
How could her mother have done that to a child? Even if her sister was as violent as Dylis claimed, there was no good excuse for what Meris had done. “If Eleri was that disturbed, why didn’t anyone take her to a doctor?”
“There’s no cure for evil.” Dylis stubbed out her cigarette in a plastic ashtray. “Don’t think you can save her. You’ll wind up like the others. My boy’s gone because he believed that bitch’s lies over his own parents.”
“I’m sorry about your son.” Brynn gripped the woman’s hand and gave it a squeeze. When she tried to pull back, Dylis held tight.
“You’re in danger.” Dylis’s tight whisper sent a wave of goose bumps prickling over her skin. “You managed to get away from Cragera Bay once. If you stay much longer, you won’t be so lucky.”
“If you mean Eleri—”
Dylis shook her head. “You’re a nice girl. You don’t belong here, mixed up in all of this.”
A loud bang disrupted the silence. Brynn started, heart leaping into her throat. She swung around in her chair to see Stephen Paskin standing behind the bar. When his pale eyes met hers, his expression lit with a warm smile.
“Miss James, back again. We’re closed, unfortunately.”
“She knows that.” Dylis pushed back from the table, chair legs squeaking on the wood floor. “She came to say goodbye.”
Stephen’s brows lifted as he turned his attention to his wife. “Did she?”
Tension thickened in the room like a gathering storm. The hair at the back of Brynn’s neck bristled.
“You found those glasses, then?” Dylis nodded at a cardboard box on the bar, maybe trying to change the subject. “That didn’t take you long.”
“Didn’t expect me back so soon?”
“I
also came to apologize,” Brynn cut in, drawing the man’s wry gaze back to her, “to your wife and to you for my behavior the other night. Those drinks hit me harder than I expected.”
Stephen studied her for a long moment, then chuckled. “No harm done, love. In this business, it’s not the first time I’ve seen someone after one too many, and I doubt it’ll be the last. Can I get you something now? Something less potent, maybe?”
Dylis jerked her head sideways to look at her husband, but remained silent. Mouth pressed into a tight line.
Brynn’s unease amped up another notch. There was a distinct vibe between the couple and it wasn’t good. “You’re closed.”
“On the house,” Stephen said, with a wink.
“I really should go. I have another stop after this.”
“Of course, safe journey.”
She smiled stiffly, said her goodbyes, then rushed outside. She let out the breath she’d been holding and hurried to her car. As she slid behind the wheel, she glanced back at the pub. The windows were dark and empty, and a shiver crept over her skin.
* * *
Hazelwood had likely started life as a Georgian manor before being converted to a long-term care facility. The closest nursing home to Cragera Bay, Brynn figured it was the most likely candidate to house Hildy Banks.
She steered down the narrow drive, winding through thin patches of bare trees. Late afternoon sun seeped through gaps in the low slate clouds, dappling the velvet-green lawn. In a few weeks the gardens here would be starting to bloom, and unlike Stonecliff’s overgrown greenery, Hazelwood would no doubt be tidy and pretty.
She parked in the small lot in front of the building. There were only a few other cars in the spaces. As she popped open her door and stepped out, a strange melancholy gripped her. No matter how cheerful and pretty places like this tried to be, there was always a sense of forgotten life.
She crossed the parking lot and followed the concrete walk to the front door. The rush of waves against the shore filled her ears. Sunshine glittered off the roiling waves. She steeled herself against the nerves shimmying up and down her spine, pushed open the door and stepped into a wide lobby. The space had been modernized and painted in muted peach and cream. A long wooden counter, plush armchairs set up opposite, suggested hotel lobby instead of long-term care, but the steel security door at the far end and stringent hospital smell gave it away.
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