Never Tell

by Selena Montgomery

  But Gabriel wasn’t quite ready to let her go. It was becoming a habit, he thought as he unerringly captured her wrist. Fragile bones shifted beneath his grip, jerking angrily. Warmth seeped into him. A closer hold seemed essential. When he twined his fingers with hers, the movement felt natural. Right.

  “Mr. Moss!”

  Flexing his fingers where they laced with hers, he studied her. Sparks shot out from the chocolate brown eyes that glared up at him. Antagonism curled the lush mouth. He wanted to kiss, so instead, he teased. “Call me Gabriel. Since you’re a friend of the family.”

  “I’m a colleague of Genevieve’s,” Erin corrected between clenched teeth. “And I have every intention of limiting my acquaintance to her alone.” Futilely she tried to pull her hand free. Which was a mistake. The slide of skin made her pulse leap.

  Feeling her reaction, Gabriel bent closer and shook his head in mock disappointment. “Not very hospitable of you, Dr. Abbott.”

  Erin scowled as he captured her other hand. This had gone on long enough. “Let … me … go.”

  Cops wandered past, nodding in casual greeting. Gabriel responded, but his attention stayed on Erin. Instead of releasing her, he lifted her right hand to his lips. With his eyes on hers, he gave in to impulse and nipped at the rigid knuckles. “Say the magic word.”

  Her mouth dried and she could feel her knees weaken. Trying to be strong, she replied huskily, “Please … let … me … go.” Against her will, her fist pressed closer.

  Delighted, Gabriel sampled the ridges of bone and the satin flesh with separate kisses, his eyes holding hers. “Where are you from, Dr. Abbott?”

  The sharp tugs of arousal dulled instantly. He was the second person to inquire about her past. Two people that she didn’t know anything about except that one was a detective and the other was a journalist. Her natural enemies. Avoiding his question, she repeated quietly, “Please let me go.”

  Gabriel saw the shutters fall over her eyes, desire banished. The reporter in him wondered what it was about her former home that she didn’t want him to know.

  There was a story here; he could smell it. Where his lips met her skin, he could taste it. And he’d enjoy uncovering it. As much as he enjoyed the contrast of irritation and attraction he read in Erin’s very wary eyes. The first he intentionally stoked by pressing their palms into closer contact; the second he wanted to explore.

  “If you agree to have dinner with me.”

  “Absolutely not.”

  He thought he heard regret, faint but real. Real enough to keep him rooted in the hallway. “Then I guess we’ll just stand here. Hand in hand. But I don’t think Coca-Cola agrees with silk.”

  “It doesn’t and if it stains, I’m sending you the bill.”

  “Bring it to dinner.”

  The quick retort startled a laugh from her. “You don’t give up, do you?”

  “Not when fate intervenes. We’ve been in the same city for months, and we run into each other twice in one day. Ma coeur, it must be destiny.”

  Too bad she didn’t believe in destiny, Erin thought. And she didn’t believe in coincidence, either. “Mr. Moss, for the last time, I’m asking you to let me go. If you don’t, I will start screaming. We’re in a police station. One scream, and several large men will come to my rescue.”

  Gabriel nodded and turned his head to a burly officer lounging near a coffee machine. “Hey, Jerry? The lady wants me arrested. Think you can oblige?”

  “For you, Gabe? Hell, we’ve always got your cell waiting.” Other cops chuckled and called out greetings.

  “See,” Gabriel whispered. “It’s fate.”

  “Please.”

  The single word spoke volumes, but he wasn’t sure what he heard. But it was enough to make him release her hands and step away. “You’re free to go.”

  Without a word, Erin turned and ran. Picking up speed, she plowed through the bullpen and banged on the metal door to be released. Officer Rochon buzzed her through and watched bemusedly as she raced outside the police station. “Strange woman,” he murmured to himself. “Pretty, but strange. But that’s not so unusual here in New Orleans.”

  CHAPTER 6

  On Royal, weekend revelers milled about, unconcerned that it was a weekday. They were entranced by the party that was New Orleans. Vibrant jazz danced in the air. The moist heat gave young women and men a reason to shed clothes and inhibitions. Mardi Gras had ended months before, but the festivities had simply shifted focus to summer tourists.

  With thick crowds pouring into the Quarter, there was not a vacant cab to be found. Erin cursed beneath her breath. She rummaged in her bag for her phone and quickly dialed her assistant. Noise blared in the background. Erin shouted into the phone, “Jessica? Hi, it’s Erin.”

  On the other end, grading papers, Jessica leaned into the phone. “Dr. Abbott? Where in the world are you?”

  An engrossed couple, sharing a Hurricane, wove past the station and Erin. She stepped out of their way and sighed. “Down in the Quarter. Is there a chance you can swing by after your office hours and pick me up? I’m not sure I’ll be able to get a cab.”

  “Sorry, Dr. Abbott,” Jessica apologized. “I’ve got to cover a class for Dr. Bernard. He called in sick today.”

  Hearing the genuine regret, Erin said, “No problem. I’ve got a few more exams I can grade while I wait.”

  “I’m sorry, Dr. Abbott. See you tomorrow?”

  “Bright and early.”

  When Jessica rang off, Erin shrugged her shoulders and examined the low-heeled brown pumps. Thank heavens for sensible shoe wear, she thought resignedly. She started walking in the direction of home. Perhaps, if she didn’t melt first, she’d luck upon a taxi. Erin crossed Conti and wound her way between drunken college students and wide-eyed tourists.

  A long shadow fell into step beside her. She didn’t bother to look up.

  “This could qualify as stalking, Mr. Moss,” she muttered wearily as she shifted to put the width of the sidewalk between them.

  Gabriel simply followed. “Why are you always running from me, Erin?”

  Erin lengthened her stride, knowing that it was no match for the long legs of the man beside her. If he caught up with her, she’d never escape. “Because I don’t want to be near you.”

  “Ouch.” Gabriel rubbed at his chest, not quite joking. “Direct hit.” He slowed his pace, hanging back to watch her walk. She moved quickly, almost at a run. Despite her diminutive height, her pace ate the ground in quick flashes of motion. Questions, which multiplied each time he was with her, demanded answers. Was she chasing something or running away from someone? The answer seemed essential, almost vital. Before he could ask, though, he’d have to make her stand still. “Erin.” He lengthened his stride to catch up. “Wait. Please.”

  “Go away.”

  “Can’t.”

  “Won’t,” Erin contradicted.

  “Okay, won’t.”

  Abruptly Erin stopped and spun toward him. “You don’t know me. I don’t know you. I don’t like you. Why won’t you leave it that way?”

  “Because I want to get to know you. I get the feeling not many people ever do.”

  “I obviously prefer it, Mr. Moss.”

  “And I wonder why that is.” In what had grown quickly into habit, he caught her hand and tucked it firmly inside his own. He expected her immediate jerk of resistance and countered it effortlessly. “You don’t strike me as the shy, retiring type, despite your disguise.”

  Damn him, he was right, she thought, staring at the steam rising from the pavement. She wasn’t shy or timid. She was methodical, conscientious, and deliberate. She weighed consequences, took careful actions. Having friends was dangerous; therefore, she didn’t have them. Sebastian was the only exception, because he knew her before.

  “Tell me what you’re thinking, Erin.”

  Erin looked up and into eyes that glinted silver. In sharp contrast to the friendly voice, Gabriel’s look was anything
but friendly. It was stubborn. Possessive. It was a look she recognized.

  Firmly she pulled her hand free and slapped it on his chest. The shift and play of muscle distracted for a second and she curved her hand into him for a second, but only just. “No, I’m not the shy, timid type, but I’ve an instinct about men like you. You’re attractive, with a full arsenal. Quick wit. Incredible voice. Women are drawn to the charm and the attention. They are readily available to you, and you like their company. Maybe they even enjoy the stalking. I don’t. I choose my friends, Mr. Moss, and I’ve asked you to stay away from me.”

  Stung, more than he would have imagined, Gabriel took a half step back, and her hand dropped away. Not often had he been summed up so swiftly and found so wanting. An awkward silence filled the air between them.

  When she made a move to speak, he held up his palms in surrender. “I’m sorry. I will do my best to stay out of your way.” He spun on his heel and stepped into the street. With an imperious wave, he beckoned a taxi turning the corner. The cab screeched to a halt at the curb, and Gabriel pulled open the door, squeaking it on its hinges. “Felix. Please take Dr. Abbott wherever she’s in such a hurry to go.”

  “Sure thing, Gabe.”

  Silently Erin climbed inside. She started to say something, “Thanks,” or perhaps an apology, but she did not get the chance. Gabriel slammed the door shut on her unspoken words and banged the roof once, signaling the driver to go. She watched Gabriel walk away until he turned the corner and vanished from sight.

  “Dr. Abbott? I need an address.”

  Erin flushed. “Two-sixteen St. Bennett. Please.” After she gave the driver her address, she settled deep into the leather to think. Yes, she was methodical, conscientious, and deliberate. And, she acknowledged on a fresh wave of shame, she still could hurt another simply to protect herself.

  At her apartment, Erin entered to the sound of the phone ringing. She locked the door behind her and snatched the phone from its cradle on the third ring. “Hello?” she asked, teetering on one foot as she slid the shoe over poorly sized hose.

  “Are you hiding from me?” asked the gravelly voice on the other end.

  Erin froze and terror condensed around her like ice. “Who is this?”

  “It’s me. Sebastian.”

  A tremulous sigh escaped and she sank weakly down onto the bowed sofa. “Oh, Sebastian.” With a quivering hand, she lifted a cup of tea left over from breakfast from the coffee table. She gulped down the tepid brew, trying without much success to inject steel into a suddenly quavering voice. “You frightened me.”

  “Why are you scared of a phone call?” On the other end, Sebastian Cain narrowed his eyes. “Has something happened?” he questioned carefully.

  “It’s been a long week.” Erin forced her nerves to settle, knowing he would hear every nuance. Because she loved him, because he’d done the unthinkable one stormy California night, she would do for him what no one had for her. Protect him. She would keep him away from New Orleans and the menace that taunted her. With a quick laugh, she explained, “I guess the phone has static. I wasn’t expecting to hear from you while the sun was up. You keep such interesting hours.”

  “All of the hours need tending, love,” he replied. “How’s the Big Easy?”

  “Hot.” Erin sank into the sofa cushions and cradled the teacup in her lap. “Are you in New York?”

  “I’m around,” was the noncommittal reply. “Now tell me what’s really going on.”

  The whole truth, so rarely told, spilled out. She leaned forward to set the cup down, wincing when the delicate china rattled against its saucer. “Someone knows about Nathan.”

  The quiet oath singed the phone wires. “Who?”

  On the other end, Erin shook her head. “I don’t know. I got a note on Sunday, with five obituaries. The note had my name on it.”

  “Analise?”

  “Yes. And there was more.” Quickly she explained her theory of the obituaries to a silent Sebastian. “It’s a stretch, I know, but I’m certain I’m right. Only a person with an abnormal affinity for words and puzzles would have seen the connections. A freak—”

  “Erin,” Sebastian interrupted patiently, “don’t do this to yourself. Don’t let Nathan inside your head.”

  “He’s always there. He never leaves. No matter what I do, he’s always inside my head.” The sob caught in her throat. “I just want to be free of him. Of her.”

  Sebastian heard the tears, felt his heart wrench. He remembered a younger Erin, a daring little girl called Analise by doting, if distracted, parents. They had marveled at their brilliant child and despaired of understanding her. Laboratories and institutes and universities had studied the four-year-old brain that absorbed Latin like a sponge. At five, she’d mastered Greek, while his ten-year-old mind grappled with dangling participles.

  By fifteen, she was on her own, as was he, her parents and his mother killed in a plane crash in Belize. When he’d traveled to California to reconnect, the girl he’d known had been smothered, but not erased. She’d found the will to break free. Whether she called herself Erin or Jane Doe, she would always be Analise. A survivor.

  “You are Analise. Changing your name doesn’t change who you are. Who you’ve always been.”

  The denial burst out of her. “I don’t want to be who I’ve always been! Meek. Simpering. Useless. But I don’t deserve anything better.”

  “You deserve to be happy. You’ve paid your dues. No one holds you responsible.”

  “I hold me responsible.”

  “What are you thinking, Erin?”

  “Could it be him? Nathan? Are we sure he’s not back somehow?”

  “You’ve been in New Orleans too long,” Nathan scoffed. “He was gone when I got there. We both checked. I don’t know who’s doing this, but it’s not him.”

  “Then someone else wants to scare me. Control me. I can’t be a victim again.” She thought of the look of pity in Detective Iberville’s eyes. “But I won’t be a frightened, mute observer to the world spinning around me. In fact, I’m not going to wait for the police to believe me.”

  Recognizing the tone from long ago, even if she did not, Sebastian bolted upright. “Now, Erin. Wait a minute.”

  “For what? For the police to listen to a ridiculous halftruth? They won’t.” Adrenaline sang in her veins, and she welcomed the new sensation that didn’t feel so new. Vaguely, she remembered being fearless once, before Nathan and Callenwolde University. “Maybe if I gather more evidence, they’ll have to believe me.”

  “Or they’ll turn their investigation on you. It’s too big a risk.”

  “Oh, I won’t do anything rash. I am trained in this area.”

  “You’re an academic, not a sleuth.”

  “I’m a criminal psychologist. Emphasis on the criminal. I’ll just go by the crime scenes. Check their backgrounds. Draw up a profile of their attacker. Easy, nonthreatening stuff.”

  “This is what he wants. It’s very threatening,” Sebastian growled. “Whoever is after you isn’t playing a game, Erin. He’s already killed seven people, and I doubt they were his first time at bat. I won’t let you risk your life to atone for doing what you had to do.”

  “How do you plan to stop me?”

  “You’re coming to New York.”

  “Are you there?”

  “That’s irrelevant. I’ll let my doorman know to expect you tomorrow night.”

  “I’m not going anywhere. I am the resident expert on language and lunatics.”

  “Cute.”

  To mollify him, she soothed, “Don’t worry. I’m still me. I won’t get into any trouble. I promise. But I need to do something. I have to.”

  Static crackled for a moment, and then a harried sigh stretched across the wires. Erin echoed the sentiment, albeit silently. “If you don’t call me by Sunday, I’m coming to find you. After twenty-seven years of friendship, you know I don’t make idle threats.”

  “I know. I still re
member the telegraph you sent when I went off to Bilbao and didn’t write.”

  “I will always find you, honey.”

  “I love you, too.”

  Sebastian harrumphed gently. “I didn’t say I love you.”

  “But you do.”

  “Always.”

  “Bye, Sebastian.” She hung up the phone and walked to the cheval mirror hanging near the entranceway. “Hello, Erin Abbott.”

  Course set, Erin realized that she’d missed every meal that day. Muttering to herself, she said, “I could write a paper about the effects of threats from a serial killer on the appetite.”

  As a psychologist, she recognized the dark humor as a defense mechanism. It would be stupid not to be afraid, she decided, but fear would never control her the way she’d allowed in the past.

  And she’d fight back by ordering dinner.

  Thirty minutes later, she stood on her balcony, watching evening traffic. Down below, she saw the deliveryman from Thai Palace in his familiar Jeep, baseball cap pulled low over his hair. Anticipating him, Erin pressed the buzzer to open the door. “Come on up,” she instructed.

  She counted the bills for payment as she waited for him to make it up to the third floor. The elevator was notoriously slow, which was why she often took the stairs. Thinking of the worn cap, she added a healthy tip. When the knock finally sounded on her apartment door, she absently opened it. “You have the fastest delivery in town.”

  “I aim to please,” drawled a voice that did not belong to the deliveryman. Erin confirmed her suspicion by turning to find Gabriel in the doorway. He removed the cap, tucked it into his back pocket, and extended a gather of flowers. Jasmine.

  At the sight of the tiny purple blooms, something in the region of her heart melted, and she considered inviting him inside. “Thank you,” she murmured, accepting the flowers.