"Well, obviously you don't need my help—"
"Whoa!" Luke said. "Florida's a big state. You could help me narrow it down. I'm assuming you got her current address?"
"I would have if I could, pal," Rich said with a sigh. "But the bank wasn't going to hand out that information to any old average axe murderer like you or me. I did manage to scrounge up the location of her new bank, though. It's out on Sanibel Island, in the Gulf, you know, off Ft. Myers."
"I owe you one," Luke said.
"Actually, you owe me about fifteen," Rich said before he realized he was talking to the dial tone.
* * *
Sanibel Island was sweltering. September was still hot as hell in Florida, hot and damp and oppressive. Cumulonimbus clouds were gathering ominously in the southwest, lurking at the edges of an already hazy and humid morning. By late afternoon, the weather would break, and it would cool off — for maybe twenty minutes. Then the heat and humidity would start building back up in preparation for the next day's thunderstorms.
Luke stood at a pay phone, scribbling in a little notebook as the operator gave him the phone numbers of all the Rodriguezes in the Ft. Myers area.
There were twenty-three of them.
He wiped a trickle of sweat from his face and started dialing.
* * *
Lib walked around the edge of the property, stopping to take a deep breath of the salty ocean air.
This service station was two blocks from the Gulf, and seabirds glided overhead, calling and shrieking to each other, occasionally landing on a rooftop or telephone pole. The pelicans were very cool, Lib thought, shading her eyes to look up at the peeling paint on the outside of the building. Pelicans usually flew in formation — three or four or even more huge, pre-historic-looking birds with their large beaks and enormous wingspans.
The real estate agent watched as Lib made another circuit of the building, this time looking at the foundation. It wasn't bad. It wasn't great, but it wasn't too bad, either.
Sanibel Island was nice. It was a kind of funky, artistic community. A large amount of the island belonged to the J.D. "Ding" Darling wildlife preserve where her brother Cal worked. "Alligator Crossing" signs were scattered throughout the surrounding neighborhoods. The first time Lib had seen them, she'd thought they were nothing more than cute jokes. It wasn't too long before she realized that those signs really did mark the places where the enormous reptiles crawled across the road going from swamp to swamp.
Lib liked Sanibel Island. Cal had been living there for about three years, and she'd been to visit him at least as many times. Sanibel was less built up, less commercial than many of the other islands on the west coast of Florida. Of course, because of that, property values were sky-high.
This service station that she was looking at, that she was considering buying, was going to cost her all of her profit from the sale of Great-Aunt Harriet's house. And then some.
Lib went into the large two-bay garage, trying not to think about Luke. But it was impossible. Everything she did was because of him. There was no denying it. She was standing here, now, in Florida, inside this empty building because of Luke Fulton. So it was hard not to think about the man.
She stared at the splotches of oil on the concrete floor, wondering how he could have fooled her so totally, 'so absolutely. No matter which way she looked at it, she couldn't figure it out. She couldn't reconcile the warm, passionate man she'd come to know over the past few months of summer with the cold stranger she'd talked to up at the resort. The two seemed so different. It was as if when he'd gone to Boston, his body had been invaded by aliens.
She missed him. She didn't miss the cold, mean Luke who had hurt her so badly. In fact, she wouldn't care if she never saw him again for the rest of her life. But she did miss the Luke who had been her friend, her confidant, her lover...
Lib closed her eyes, remembering the morning Luke had come into her house, that morning he'd left for Boston. He'd looked at her as if he loved her. He'd kissed her, touched her, made love to her, awakening within her a passion she'd never felt before.
It was Friday, Lib realized suddenly. It was Luke's day of reckoning. It was the day he had the opportunity to buy back his precious ancestral land. She could picture him, dressed to the nines for the occasion, wearing one of his hand-tailored suits that fit him so perfectly. His dark hair would be carefully combed, perfectly in place. He would walk into Ken Avery's office with Rich Lowell his side. His dark eyes would gleam with satisfaction as he opened his briefcase and placed a certified check for one million dollars on Avery's desk —
On the other side of the garage, the real estate agent cleared his throat. "This really is a remarkable deal," he said. "It's only on the market because the owner passed away, and his heirs don't want the bother of leasing the property. They priced it to sell, and it's going to go fast. If you're interested, don't wait to make an offer. I'm telling you, a service station combined with that apartment upstairs — this place will be sold by the beginning of next week."
"I don't know," a familiar voice said quietly. "I don't think the location's right."
Luke.
He was leaning against the wall by the door that led into the front office. Lib's heart nearly stopped beating as she stared at him.
"Oh, no," the real estate agent said. "The location's terrific. This is one of our main drags. In fact, this intersection is the busiest on the island."
Lib couldn't take her eyes off of Luke. He was wearing his favorite pair of khaki shorts and an old Sterling Athletic Club T-shirt. His hair was curling around his ears from the humidity, and his lean face looked tired. But his gaze was sharp — sharp and very warm.
Lib turned away, suddenly aware that the real estate agent was watching them. "Will you excuse us for a minute, please?" she said.
The agent shrugged. "I'll be outside."
"What are you doing here?" she said, looking back at Luke.
He didn't hesitate. "I made a terrible mistake," he said. "I didn't trust you. I'm here to apologize. And I'm here to bring you back home."
Lib nodded slowly. "I'm supposed to forgive you," she said. "Just like that?"
Luke smiled. "Ideally, yes."
She started for the door. "Go to hell."
"Liberty, Lord help me, I'm already there."
His words stopped her, but she didn't turn around. "Did you sleep with her?" she asked, her back still to him. She closed her eyes, bracing herself for his answer.
"No."
It wasn't the answer she was expecting, and in surprise, she turned to face him. "Why not?"
The answer seemed so obvious to him, but he said the words anyway. "Because I'm in love with you.
"That's not what you told me—"
"I was angry," he said, starting toward her. But she backed away, and he stopped. He took a deep breath, exhaling loudly as he raked back his hair with his fingers. "I didn't know you sold your house to give me the money. I thought you wanted to leave, hell, I thought you were already gone. I lost it, Lib. I was totally nuts."
"And that's supposed to excuse what you did?" Lib asked.
"There's no excuse for the way I treated you," Luke said quietly.
He felt tears well up, but he made himself meet her eyes, he wouldn't let himself turn away. She looked so good standing there, wearing those familiar cut-off jeans and a blue sleeveless workshirt. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail. She had a smudge of grease on one of her legs, and he knew she'd been working on her car earlier that day.
"I had a hell of a time finding you," he said, trying to smile. "I took the red-eye last night, and this morning I called every C. Rodriguez in the—"
"Last night?" Lib said suddenly. She looked at her watch. Three-thirty. "Aren't you cutting it a little close?"
Luke looked at her strangely. "Cutting what close?"
"It's Friday," she said. "Today's Friday."
He didn't know what she was talking about.
"Th
e deadline?" she said. "For buying back your land? You have to get back to Sterling in less than nine hours."
There was a flash of understanding in his eyes. He finally got it. "I don't care about the land," he said. "The only place I've got to be is right here, with you."
Lib caught her breath, unable to believe what she was hearing.
The tears were back in his eyes. "I love you," he said, "and damnit, I made a mistake. But that shouldn't mean I have to spend the rest of my life paying for it. Lib, don't make me live without you. I need you." He had to stop, had to take a deep breath. He wiped his eyes brusquely with the palm of his hand. "Tell me what to do," he said softly. "Tell me what I need to do so that you'll forgive me."
She couldn't believe it. She couldn't believe he was actually giving up his dream of buying back his farm for her. How could she let him do that? "You really love me that much?" she asked.
"I really do," he said.
"And you'll never mistrust me again?"
He shook his head. "I'm so sorry."
Lib nodded. "Then I forgive you," she said.
Luke didn't move. He just stood there, looking at her, as if her words didn't make sense, as if he didn't understand.
"Aren't you going to kiss me?" she said, her voice shaking slightly.
He didn't need to be asked twice.
Two large steps, and he was beside her, pulling her into his arms. He kissed her then, a long, sweet kiss. His arms felt like heaven around her. He smelled so good, tasted even better. Lib knew if she let him, he'd kiss her forever.
But they didn't have forever — at least not right away. They only had eight and a half hours. She pulled back.
"Come on," she said, taking him by the hand and leading him to the door. "We've got to hurry."
The real estate agent was leaning against his car, and he straightened up as they came out of the garage.
"Sorry, bad location," Lib called to him as she pulled Luke toward her car.
"Why are we in a hurry?" Luke asked, watching her unlock the passenger door of her sports car. "Where are we going?"
"Back to Vermont," Lib said. She kissed him quickly, and Luke took the opportunity to pull her back into his arms. "If we're lucky, there'll be a flight that'll get us there before midnight—"
She tried to pull free, but he held her securely. "I'm extremely lucky," he said, "but I don't want to go back to Sterling. Not yet."
"But—"
He kissed her again. "We're here," he said. "Let's take a vacation, hang at the beach for a while."
"But I thought—"
Another kiss stopped her. "We can take a week or two," he said, smiling down at her, "then we can go back to Sterling."
"But your land," she said. "Luke, I thought—"
"You were right about a lot of things," he said. "I called Ken Avery while I was at the airport and I told him I had the million in cash as we'd agreed. He wasn't happy about that. He told me if I bought back that land, all of the plans for the resort's expansion would be postponed. You were right, he wasn't interested in building on leased land. So I made him a counter offer. I offered him five hundred thousand."
Lib blinked. "You offered him less?"
"It's a more complicated deal, and yeah, it's less cash for him, but he took it," Luke said. "You see, all I really get is my name on the deed for the land, and a guarantee that if Gates Mountain Resort ever closes its doors, that land reverts back to me or my children or grandchildren or great-grandchildren. As a larger investor, I'll also get a bigger share of the profits from the resort. It's a win-win solution. It puts the land to good use, it's environmentally sound, and it keeps all those workers and resort employees from getting laid off."
Lib nodded slowly. "And the land belongs to the Fulton's again," she said.
He nodded.
She laughed, shaking her head. "You got yourself everything you wanted," she said. "Plus an extra five hundred thousand in the bank."
"I don't have everything," he said. "Not yet."
"What else could you possibly need?"
He touched the side of her face. Her skin was so soft, so smooth.
"You," he said. "Marry me, and then I'll have everything I could possibly need for the rest of my life."
Lib's violet eyes welled with tears, but her smile shone with happiness. "Yes."
Luke kissed her. "I love you," he said. "You know I've never said that to anyone ever before."
"I know," she said.
"Let's get married tomorrow," he said. "We can fly to Las Vegas if we have to—"
"Are you kidding?" she said. "I'm getting married in Sterling, in the church, the way Harriet would've wanted."
"But I want to get married now, right now," he said. "I want our lives together to start as soon as possible."
She looped her arms more tightly around his neck and kissed him. "A wedding's just a ceremony," she said, "just a symbol of the way we feel. You're already all mine, remember?"
Luke smiled, closing his eyes as her body pressed tightly against his. Oh, yeah. He remembered.
"Get in the car," she whispered, her breath hot against his ear.
Luke got in the car.
Liberty smiled at him as she climbed in behind the wheel and started the engine with a roar.
"Muffler's out again," she shouted over the noise. "I'll help you fix it," he shouted back.
"In some countries, it's considered scandalous for a man and a woman to install a muffler together," she said with a grin.
"Not if the man loves the woman with all his heart," he said, leaning forward to kiss her.
She laughed, and pulled out of the parking lot. Luke didn't know where she was heading, and he didn't care. As long as he was with Liberty, he knew he'd be happy.
-end-
Suzanne Brockmann Page 15