And there was Scarlett now, touching her sister’s arm. Even Luke winced as her sister shrugged her away. “I don’t care if I ever see you again.”
Scarlett stood there for a long moment, as if waiting for a response. Then Luke saw her withdraw.
The sister never moved.
What was that about?
Before he could stop himself, he turned away from the surf, walked through the villa, and opened his door just as Scarlett passed by outside.
He could have stayed silent, let her walk by, out of his life, out of his reach.
Could have retreated back to his quiet, protected world.
But the gentle touch of her hand last night as she’d pulled him out of his nightmare lingered, and he called out, “Scarlett!”
She turned. And his heart nearly left his chest when he saw her wipe her cheek.
She’d been crying.
He shouldn’t descend his stairs, shouldn’t catch up to her, shouldn’t put his arms around her, as if they might be a real couple. But he had apparently stopped listening to himself and had started to act on instinct.
And this instinct, for the first time in years, felt right. “Are you okay?”
She pushed on his chest a little, disentangling herself from his arms. “I’m sorry.”
“What happened? I heard your sister yelling.”
“She fired me from her wedding.”
“Again?” He didn’t mean to say it quite that way. “I’m sorry.”
But despite the crushed look on her face, a smile started to sneak onto her lips. She pressed a hand to her beautiful mouth and it seemed she couldn’t decide between crying or laughing. “Yes…I can’t seem to keep the job.” Her attempt at humor dissolved, however. “My sister ate mushrooms.”
Her sister ate mushrooms? “I don’t understand.”
“She’s allergic to mushrooms, and I forgot to ask the chef to make sure there were no mushrooms in the food last night. Apparently they put mushroom bullion into the marinade and now she’s covered in hives and she wants to move the wedding to Saturday night.”
“Saturday night? The same time of the Sanchez wedding? That’s a terrible idea. We can’t risk any collateral damage. You can’t let her do that.”
“In case you missed something, I was fired. From being the maid of honor. I think her words were something like, ‘Stay away from my wedding.’”
“Why did she fire you? I mean, it was just a mistake.”
She pressed her fingers to her temples as if trying to clear her head. “She thinks I’m still after her fiancé.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
He walked with her down the coral path. Something about her demeanor…the way she kept sighing, shaking her head, suggested there might be more. “Scarlett, what aren’t you telling me?”
She stopped. Looked away, past him and into the surf. Shook her head again.
“I am your fiancé, you know. You can tell me anything.”
That earned him the smallest of smiles. But it vanished as her hand brushed her shiny cheek. “I can hardly believe she said this, but she said it was my fault that our parents died. That they were headed home from New York City to my play. Of course, I had hoped they’d come—I was in a boarding school in Minneapolis.” She moved forward to the beach, kicking through the sand. Her voice seemed to recover. “I can’t figure her out. My entire life, from the age of ten, was about following her around the world, supporting her career. My parents finally put me in boarding school when I was fourteen to give my life some stability.” She waded into the water, the waves washing upon her feet. He joined her, letting his toes sink into the sand. “They died when I was sixteen.”
“I’m so sorry about your parents.”
She glanced at him, her eyes shining in the night. “It was a long time ago. But their deaths left a pretty big hole in my life.” She reached down, picking up a starfish as if it might be glass. “I’ve always been amazed by these. Did you know they can lose one of their arms and it will grow back?”
He watched her face as she lifted it to the sun, something sweetly honest about the way she stared at the starfish.
“This is my first time at the ocean. I always wanted to see it, but we never had time.” The wind took her hair, wound it around her face. He barely stopped himself from pulling it away, wrapping the strands around his fingers. “We were going to go when I was twelve, during winter break from school, but that’s the year my sister got her first big international gig and my mother had to take her to a photo shoot that week for some magazine.”
“Sounds like your life revolved around your sister’s career.”
“She got her big break when she was fourteen. It only seemed right that we support her.”
“And you?”
“My father stayed home with me while my mother traveled with Bridgett at first. And then we started to travel with her, and they homeschooled us. Then, finally, my parents moved to Italy with my sister and they sent me to boarding school in Minnesota.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. I loved it. I got involved in theater and wrote for the campus newspaper. And then…then they were killed and the funds dried up and I moved in with my aunt.”
“And your sister?”
“She went on to become a supermodel in Europe.”
“And now she’s marrying Duncan? Don’t take this the wrong way, but…”
“Something doesn’t compute? I know. But she won’t tell me why she just appeared one day in Rochester. She seems to be set on marrying him and settling down as a desperate housewife, so who am I to argue? We haven’t been close for ages. The last happy moment I remember was the Christmas before she started modeling.” She dug her toe into the sand.
“We put on a song and dance—you know the sisters’ song from White Christmas?”
Maybe. He might have seen it once. “Nothing comes between my sister and me?”
“That’s the one. We did it for our parents on Christmas Eve. It was the last time we ever shared the limelight. But see, I adored her, I wanted her to succeed. I was enthralled with her life.” She traced the starfish. “In fact, when I was sixteen I even auditioned. I didn’t tell anyone who I was, but I figured, if my sister was gorgeous, certainly the agents would see something in me. So I dressed up and went in for an interview with an agency that was recruiting and…” Her shoulder lifted, then fell.
And?
He waited for it as she searched for the words. His chest tightened the longer it took.
“They told me that I didn’t have a future in modeling.” Her tone said their words hadn’t been quite that polite. She sighed. “I realized then that I was supposed to stay in the shadows.”
He didn’t agree with that at all, but she probably wouldn’t hear his words of protest. Not right now, at least. “What happened with you and your aunt?”
“She still lives in Rochester. I visit her on Sunday afternoons, for chicken potpies and book reviews. Romances, don’t ya know.” She looked up and winked at him.
That wink could make him forget his name.
She turned back to the sea, put the starfish down in the waves and lifted her face to the sun. “‘Let my heart, the sea of restless waves, find peace in you, O God.’” She glanced at him. “Augustine wrote that. My heart, the sea of restless waves.” She drew in a breath. “My sister accused me of always wanting to be the center of attention.”
“Oh, that’s rich, coming from her.” He’d met her sister, thank you.
“She might be right. She said that’s why I never keep a job—because I always want to be the savior.” She lifted a shoulder. “I do like showing up to save the day. Maybe I’ve always had a bit of heroine wannabe inside of me.”
“I think you have a lot of heroine inside of you,” he said softly.
She smiled, the cutest dimple forming on her cheek. “That’s sweet of you, but you and I both know I am not a heroine. I’m just a temp. And reall
y, I don’t have to be the center of attention. At least, I don’t have to be special to the world. I’d be happy to just be special to one person.”
You’re special to me. The words filled his mouth and he wanted to let them free. Dip his hand into hers, pull her close and forget that they were supposed to be pretending.
Because this moment didn’t feel like pretend. No, as she looked up at him and met his eyes, it felt real.
“I’m sorry you got fired. I wish I could fix it.”
“It can’t be fixed. But I still have to figure out how to stop her wedding. Or move it away from the resort, maybe. She was slotted to have her wedding on the beach at noon, but if she moves it to the evening, she’ll still be on the premises when the Sanchez raid goes down.” The waves rose to her ankles. “I’m afraid for her. She can’t be here.”
“And you can’t be here, either. I can’t risk it. You’re going to have to play sick for the rest of the weekend and miss the rehearsal dinner.”
“What about you?”
“I’ll go to the dinner, pass on your regrets, claim I need to stay to look after you. By then, of course, you’ll be off the island.”
“Of course.” Sadness tinged her smile. “And I do feel fairly sick, so it’s not a lie.”
She glanced at him, something vulnerable in her gaze. “Can I ask how you got hurt?”
“Hurt?”
“Your leg?”
“Oh.” She’d noticed that? He hadn’t talked about that mission with anyone but the Stryker team, how he’d had to drag Chet out of a terrorist’s camp. Chet still kept tabs on his daughter via the CIA. She’d forced him to leave her behind to marry an Iranian prince and become an information asset for the U.S. “I was shot rescuing a friend.”
“Are you okay?”
The sweetness in her voice had the power to unravel him, and he heard the words again. You’re special to me. Perhaps she could see that because her smile warmed. And he couldn’t help himself from reaching out then, touching her face, tucking her hair behind her ear.
“You’re so—”
“Scarlett!” The voice rose above the waves and the call of the gulls. Luke turned, still caught in his words, now tucked back inside where they belonged. Beautiful. You’re so beautiful, Scarlett.
Benito ran toward them. “Oh, I’m so glad I found you. I don’t know what to do.”
“What’s the matter?” Luke asked, but Benito ignored him.
“Lucia is missing.”
TEN
Despite being a professional, Luke was doing a poor job of hiding his panic over Lucia’s disappearance. Scarlett reached out, slid her hand into his and offered a reassuring squeeze.
Somehow over the past hour, she’d suddenly felt as if she and Luke might be a team, in this together. That, when he’d stopped her outside her sister’s villa, he had genuinely cared about her and why she’d been crying.
He’d even taken her into his arms, pulled her close. And she’d drunk in his kindness.
He seemed to actually care, those amazing eyes fixed on her as he listened to her words.
As if they mattered.
As if she mattered.
“What do you mean she’s ‘missing?’” Luke asked. Scarlett detected a slight trembling in his voice.
“She was supposed to be trying on her wedding dress, but she—and the dress—are gone,” Benito said. “I searched the yacht, but she isn’t there, and she isn’t in our villa, either. I don’t know where she went.” Benito shook his head. “You don’t think that whoever put that shark in front of our door would really hurt her, do you? I knew I shouldn’t have left her alone.” He turned to Scarlett, his eyes dark. “Why did you leave her alone? I thought you were seasick. You don’t look seasick.”
“I promise, I was sick, Benito,” she said, glancing at Luke. He looked angry. She could almost see him rise, draw himself up. Down boy, she tried to communicate with her eyes. “But I’m feeling much better. I just don’t have sea legs.” She pressed a hand to his arm. “But don’t worry, I’ll find Lucia. I’ll bet it’s just prewedding jitters. All brides get them—I promise, it’s normal.”
Benito put his hands on his hips and looked down at the sand.
“Go back to the yacht and wait for her there. I’ll track her down.” She glanced at Luke. “I’ll see you later, darling.”
She turned to leave, but Luke caught her arm and pressed a quick kiss to her cheek. “Be careful.”
Oh, she had no doubt that as soon as he could ditch Benito, he’d track them both down.
So where was Lucia?
Prewedding jitters were not likely, because there would be no wedding. But a woman who loved her man—which Lucia clearly did—would want a taste of the happiness she could have had. Especially after trying on her wedding dress.
Scarlett headed up the path to the cabana and recognized a familiar face behind the bar. Raoul looked up and smiled at her as he wiped a glass. “Hola, señorita.”
“Hello, Raoul. Where’s your wedding chapel?”
She should probably know this since she was supposed to be organizing the big day, but she’d been focusing on one crisis at a time. And, well, she’d been let go from her maid-of-honor job, hadn’t she?
“I will show you,” he said, coming around the bar. He nodded to the other bartender on duty and led the way out of the cabana to a golf cart, motioning for her to hop on.
She slipped onto the bench seat and held the bar as they lurched up the path, past the hotel, to another path on the far side of the resort. Crushed coral lined the pathway to a semi-covered pavilion built into the rock overlooking the ocean. It had seating for perhaps fifty.
And in the arch stood a woman in a wedding dress, facing the sea.
“Thank you, Raoul.”
“Anything you need, ma’am,” he said. “You want me to wait?”
“I’ll take it from here,” she said and climbed out.
Yes, she could see herself getting married in this place. The pavilion rose on bamboo pillars, twined with bougainvillea. Instead of a red carpet, sea jewels—washed glass in red and greens—inlaid a path to the altar, the sun slanting through the slats of the open roof.
Lucia didn’t turn as Scarlett’s flip-flops slapped on the path. Her dress was beautiful with the train fanned out, revealing the scalloped edge, the lacy inset. A halter dress, it buttoned behind her neck, leaving her tanned back open.
She finally sighed and turned. Something about her expression said that she expected someone else.
“It’s just me, your maid of honor.”
Lucia tried a smile, but it fell and she turned away as Scarlett joined her.
“This is some view.” Indeed, waves crashed into the gullies of the cliffs below, the sky endless, cottony clouds hanging over the far horizon. If she spread her arms, she might be able to soar.
“I want to jump,” Lucia said. “I want to jump and forget that I fell in love with a terrorist. That I am going to deceive the man I want to spend my life with.”
“You really want to spend your life with Benito?”
Lucia sighed. “A version of him, yes. The kind and gentle man who loves me.” She held a bougainvillea blossom. After a moment, she tossed it over the edge. Scarlett watched as it dropped and was engulfed by the waves below. “I didn’t expect to fall in love, you know. I expected a monster. I expected him to repulse me. I expected to do a job and leave with my heart intact.”
She closed her eyes. “He is not the man I expected. And soon, I found myself not able to pretend anymore.”
Not able to pretend anymore.
Scarlett wrapped her arms around herself. “I don’t think we can plan out who we’ll fall in love with. We just have to be willing to bear the consequences.”
“I can’t.”
Her quiet, even plaintive words speared through Scarlett.
“I love him, Scarlett. This is no longer a game or a mission to me.” She turned, her eyes red and full of tears. �
��This is as close as I will get to my wedding day.”
Scarlett slid her arm around Lucia’s waist. “I’m sorry.”
“I began to believe in the fairy tale. I lied to myself and said that Benito wasn’t a killer. That he would never hurt people. And, truthfully, I’ve never seen him be ruthless or hurt anyone. But how can he be a part of the Sanchez family and not know about their crimes?”
“Maybe he has nothing to do with their crimes.”
She sighed. “Even if he doesn’t, he will never forgive me for what I am about to do to his family. A man does not forget betrayal.”
Scarlett had nothing to say to that. “Benito is looking for you—”
“Lucia!”
As if saying his name had conjured him, Benito slammed the brakes on his golf cart and jumped out, running through the pavilion. “Why did you run away?”
Luke climbed out, his face taut.
“I didn’t run away,” Lucia said, clearly trying too hard to add a lightness to her voice. She laughed and it fell flat. “I was just nervous, and I thought if I came here, the fear would go away. And now you’ve wrecked it, because don’t you know it’s bad luck to see your bride before the wedding?”
But Benito scooped her up and she laughed. Perhaps only Scarlett saw how she blinked away tears.
This is no longer a game to me.
“Is everything okay?” Luke said, reaching her. He slid his arm around her shoulders.
“Like I said, prewedding jitters,” Scarlett said. Luke nodded.
Benito put Lucia down, took her hand and stared out at the ocean. “So, this is where I’ll marry my bride. Beautiful.” He looked at Luke, as if for confirmation.
“Yes. Of course. But are you talking about Lucia, or the view?”
Benito grinned, kissing Lucia’s hand.
“I think you two should get married here, too. The view is too lovely to waste.”
Luke managed a smile. Scarlett opened her mouth but nothing emerged.
“See, they are considering it.” Benito nodded, a dangerous twinkle in his eyes. “Perhaps we should have a double wedding? Doesn’t every woman dream of getting married with her best friend?”
Undercover Pursuit Page 11