The Wedding Hope: 5-hour read. Marriage of convenience, romantic suspense. (Colorado Billionaires Book 2)

by Regina Duke

  “It’s very common for people to shut out details of painful memories. Did all that happen in the same house where you found the hidden message?”

  Ashley nodded. “Yes. My mother was still living there a few months ago. She was corresponding with my father before he died. I didn’t find out until after, when I…” She bit her lip. “I found her letters,” she said. “That’s how I recognized her handwriting on the note. I was looking for her. I had a key to the house. I found it on my dad’s keychain. When no one answered my knock, I tried the keys, and went in. I looked from room to room. Most of her clothes are gone. There are no photos on the walls, but there are places where frames were probably hanging. The kitchen was the most obvious sign that she was gone. No sign of life, no coffee pot, no dirty dishes. And trust me, if she was living there, the sink would have been full.”

  Thor cocked his head to one side. “Really? She lived alone?”

  “Oh, I guess her new husband could have cleaned up.”

  Thor’s head bulleted back. “She remarried? After her mental health diagnosis? And still wrote to your father?”

  “As far as I know, she stayed single for fourteen years. She wrote my dad a lot, asking questions about me. She showed a lot more interest in her letters than I remember her showing in person.” She looked away. “I’m sorry. That wasn’t very respectful.”

  Thor waved a hand. “Don’t worry about it. So you think her husband did the dishes?”

  “I don’t really know. I just know my mother didn’t. Not unless her stint in the mental hospital changed her into a completely different woman.” She drained the rest of her tea. “This was lovely, thank you.”

  Thor took the cup and set it on the desk. “You look a hundred per cent better than when you came in. Now let me get this straight. You came here looking for personal protection because you think your mother might have enemies who sent her into witness protection, and you’re afraid they might come after you.”

  Ashley nodded. “Do you think I’m crazy?”

  “Not at all. If you are feeling afraid, it makes sense to get some help with that. Are you ready to go look at that house again?”

  Ashley tensed immediately. “Right now? I just got out of there.”

  Thor patted the air. “No rush. But when you’re ready, I’ll go back with you, okay? We need to see if there’s anything else that might give you a clue about what happened. Did you see anyone following you when you left?”

  Ashley’s cheeks flushed. “No. I was kind of panicky and my mind wasn’t working right.”

  “Oh, I don’t know,” said Thor. “It was working well enough to bring you to my door. You recognized the fact that you need some help.”

  “If something really is wrong,” said Ashley. “Which I’m beginning to wonder, now that I’m sitting here with you.”

  Thor knew he should just tell her he was not a bodyguard or an investigator. But he couldn’t let her walk out that door. She looked so rattled and vulnerable.

  Besides, he was confident that any man who’d spent three years as a fireman could handle personal security for a beautiful woman. And she was certainly that.

  In fact she was the most gorgeous woman he’d ever met. Her wavy dark hair, big brown eyes, fawn-like lashes, and her sensuous mouth could easily cast a spell. But she seemed oblivious to her own charms.

  Thor held up the tea pot. “Refill?”

  Ashley’s smile was thin, but it was there. “No, thanks.”

  Thor moved around behind the desk and sat in the leather chair. “Am I correct in assuming you wish to hire me for security?”

  “I would like that, yes. But I don’t know if I can afford you. I should ask your rates. I’m just not thinking straight.”

  Thor smiled back at her. “We’ll work something out. Rocky, come here.”

  The Doberman unfolded himself from his bed and ambled over.

  Thor saw Ashley flinch as the dog approached. “With me, Rocky. Miss Clair isn’t used to you yet.”

  Ashley gave him a grateful smile. “He’s a beautiful dog.”

  “My mother breeds’em. She shows all over the country. Best blood line in or out of Texas.”

  “Oh, your family’s from Texas? That’s where my dad grew up.”

  Thor smiled. “Good. Then when my drawl sneaks in every now and then, you won’t find it strange.”

  That earned him a real smile, and Thor decided that Ashley Clair could light up a room when she wanted to. She was certainly lighting up his office with that smile.

  “If you’re feeling better, I really encourage you to come back to the house with me. We’ll take Rocky. We’ll go in my SUV, so you don’t have to worry about your car being spotted again. If someone is watching your mother’s house, we should get there before they go in and have a chance to discover whatever clues might be left in your hidden bedroom.”

  “Okay. If you think it’s a good idea. I may need to pay installments because my dad didn’t leave me anything, and I haven’t had a chance to look for work since he died. He was sick for the last year and I postponed trying to find work so I could look after him.”

  “Cancer?”

  “Yes. Pancreatic. It moved so fast. I’m still in shock. My plan was to tell Julie he was gone, then start a serious job search.”

  “Not to worry. We’ll figure something out. Finances should not be your biggest concern at the moment.” He retrieved a brushed suede jacket. “Rocky, get your leash.”

  The dog trotted to a hook by the door, stood on his hind legs and lifted his leash off the peg.

  “Smart dog,” said Ashley.

  “You ready?”

  She nodded. “I think so.”

  Thor was impressed with her pluck. He pulled his car keys off the same hook the leash had been on. “Oh, by the way, you never told me who your mother married.”

  “A man named Agnew Spinoza.”

  Thor stood and stared at Ashley. His heart thudded against his breastbone. He turned and crossed the room to unlock his desk drawer.

  He lifted a semi-automatic handgun out of the drawer and nested it in a leather holster.

  “Is something wrong?” Ashley’s eyes widened at the sight of the gun.

  “If your mother married Agnew Spinoza, something is most definitely wrong.”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  ASHLEY FOLLOWED THOR’S ADVICE AND drove her little sedan around to the alley behind his office where several merchants parked their vehicles. He was already waiting beside his dark blue SUV. The Doberman was prancing around, eager to get in the car. Ashley had to smile.

  “He reminds me of my dad’s little beagle about to go bye-bye.”

  Thor looked grim as he opened the rear lift gate. His reaction to the name Agnew Spinoza bothered Ashley almost more than the stain on her mother’s kitchen floor.

  “Rocky, hup!”

  Once the dog was loaded, Thor came and opened the door for her.

  “Thank you.”

  He paused. “How much do you know about the man your mother married?”

  “Not a thing. Like I said, my father sheltered me from everything having to do with her.”

  Thor nodded.

  “What should I know?” she asked.

  “I’ll tell you on the way.”

  Ashley settled back and fastened her seat belt. She felt much safer in the SUV than she had in her little sedan. Maybe it was being higher up. She couldn’t decide. She turned toward the driver’s door, looking for Thor, and came nose to nose with Rocky.

  “Ack!”

  The door opened and Thor got in. “Problem?”

  “No, no. Rocky just startled me. Sorry.”

  “Rocky, stay in the back.” He flashed her a smile. “He likes to ride shotgun.”

  They were off. Ashley gave directions, then waited for Thor to talk about the mysterious Agnew Spinoza. After a few minutes, she couldn’t stand it anymore.

  “You were going to tell me about Spinoza.”

  Th
or grunted an affirmative. “I keep hoping your mother’s husband will be a different Agnew Spinoza, but it’s not a common name.”

  “You can say that again. When I read it in mother’s letter, I wondered if maybe she’d written it incorrectly. But who misspells their new husband’s name?”

  “Unfortunately, she probably got it right. Agnew Spinoza was in the news for several months. He was indicted for some kind of computer fraud, white collar stuff, and was trying to cut a deal with the State. He had married the woman who’d been working as his bookkeeper. That must have been your mother. Julie something?”

  “Yes. Julie Clair, after she married my father.”

  “That was it. Of course, a wife doesn’t have to testify against her husband, so it was obvious to everyone what Spinoza was doing. I hope your mother saw that.”

  “What happened?”

  “You don’t remember hearing about it?”

  “I don’t remember anything but hospitals and doctors and struggling to get my dad from one appointment to the next.” She felt the weight of the past year pressing her into the seat.

  “Sorry,” said Thor.

  “For what?”

  “I didn’t mean to bring on those memories.”

  “Oh.” Ashley marveled at his sensitivity. In all the time she took care of her dad, even though he was a great father, Donald Clair had never once worried about how she was doing. But she just wrote that off to the disease and all that came with it.

  “Back to Spinoza, he was trying to cut a deal, like I said. Then all of a sudden, no more news coverage, nothing. The government issued a statement about an ongoing investigation, and so on. But given the possibility that he ended up in the witness protection program, I can recall that several big league white collar criminals were indicted in the months since he dropped out of sight. Maybe it had something to do with that. But rumor had it, beyond the white collar stuff, Spinoza was linked to violent crime. Drugs, maybe gun trafficking. So…” He let it trail off.

  Ashley filled in her own blanks. “So maybe someone might be out for revenge? Maybe somebody would jump at the chance to hurt me, thinking it might hurt my mother?”

  Thor shrugged. “Or, maybe someone is following you and hoping you already know where she is. I would vote for that option.”

  Ashley chewed her bottom lip. “Okay. I think I like that one better, too. But what if they get tired of chasing me and just hold me down and try to beat it out of me?”

  Thor stared at her open mouthed. “Where did that come from?”

  Ashley blinked back at him. “I go to the movies. I watch TV. Not everything stems from watching my mother beat my father to a bloody pulp. Oh.” She covered her mouth again. “I can’t believe I said that. Do you think it really happened?”

  “Why not? You said there was blood everywhere. But you were covered with a blanket, right?”

  “I peeked. Wouldn’t you?”

  “Oh, yeah. I would have peeked, too. Is this the street?”

  “Yes. Bondy Lane. Is your name really Thor?”

  Thor laughed. “Yes, it is. It could be worse, though.”

  “Not much worse. Did the kids beat you up in school?”

  “Nope. They were too busy beating up on my older brother Ulysses.”

  “You’re kidding me.”

  “Not kidding. Awful, isn’t it? And you thought your mother had problems.”

  He drove past the house.

  “You missed it.”

  “No, I didn’t. We’re making a loop. I want to see if there are any cars parked around here.”

  “Oh. Okay.” Ashley did her part, trying to spot anything unusual. Everything looked boringly normal.

  Thor turned a corner and drove up the side street and up the face of the hill. On the left side were two bungalows, one on the lower end and one on the higher part of the street. On the right side of the street stretched manicured lawns and trees and a stone-and-brass sign that read Bondy Cemetery.

  Ashley’s eyes grew wide. “I don’t remember a cemetery being here.”

  Thor cast a glance at the driveway. The afternoon sun was losing power. The deciduous trees were changing colors and dropping leaves. It was a peaceful, inviting scene.

  “Your parents probably never mentioned it. I wouldn’t tell my kids if we lived next door to a cemetery. Can you imagine the nightmares?”

  Ashley had to agree. Then, “You have kids?”

  “No, I mean some day in the future, when I have a family.” He added wryly, “Which according to mother is grossly overdue.”

  Ashley suppressed a smile. At the top of the hill, Thor turned left and cruised along the row of 1940s bungalows with tidy lawns and old, drooping trees.

  “I don’t think I ever came up this street,” said Ashley. “Isn’t that funny? These houses must be seventy years old, and yet as a child, I thought the universe ended at my back yard.”

  Thor smiled. They went around the block, but this time Thor passed by Bondy Lane when he came to it.

  Filled with curiosity, Ashley stared a question at him.

  Thor said, “I saw two suspicious vehicles. Power truck with the driver half asleep and a dark green van with no windows in the back and no ads or logos on the side. If we drive by the house again, they’ll recognize my car.”

  Ashley held up a finger. “If they’re watching the house.”

  “Of course. If. Better safe than sorry.”

  Ashley gazed out the window into the gloaming, letting memories flicker and fade in her mind, until Thor pulled the SUV over to the curb in front of a bungalow on the high side of the Bondy Lane house.

  “We’ll park up here and cut through that back yard. There’s a ‘For Sale’ sign on this house and it looks unoccupied, so I don’t think we’ll bother anyone.”

  “If you say so.”

  “Don’t worry, it’ll be fine. If someone yells at us, I’ll do the talking. Could you open the glove box and hand me the flashlight? Just in case. Give me a couple of those baggies, too. Thanks. Ready, Rocky?”

  The Doberman leaped toward the front of the vehicle, his front paws landing in Thor’s lap.

  Ashley flinched and squeaked. Abashed, she muttered, “Sorry.”

  “No need to apologize. You’re with me. Rocky won’t hurt you. But frankly, I’m pleased that you have a healthy respect for him.” Thor got out and Rocky glued himself to his master’s side. Before he shut the door, Thor added, “He’s not your father’s beagle.”

  Ashley made a face. “No kidding.” She piled out.

  Thor led the way through the darkening garden behind the bungalow. When they reached the back of the property, there was a gate in the fence.

  “Look at this,” said Thor softly. “I thought we’d have to climb over, but these were built in a day when neighbors trusted each other.” He opened the gate and they went through.

  They were standing at the top of the hill behind Julie Spinoza’s house. Ashley knew she used to play way up here, but she didn’t remember the gate. She shrugged. She probably never went through it. Her mother may have single-handedly destroyed the uphill neighbor’s faith in the good neighbor policy. She bit her lip to keep from laughing as she picked her way down stone steps toward the back of the house. They had a good view of the kitchen and the lilac bushes that hid the foundation from sight. The late afternoon sun was losing the battle with shadows from the surrounding trees.

  Ashley’s breath caught in her throat and she seized Thor’s arm.

  “What?”

  “The kitchen is dark. Someone turned out the light!”

  CHAPTER SIX

  “ARE YOU SURE YOU DIDN’T TURN it out when you left?”

  Ashley snapped, “Of course I didn’t. I saw dried blood on the floor and drew my hand back. I did not turn it out.”

  “Easy, easy. I know this is nerve-wracking.”

  “Sorry. I’m walking a fine edge here between terror and confusion.”

  Thor gave her a nod. “Nic
ely put. Are you a writer?”

  “No. Art major. A lot of good that did me.”

  “Got those keys you told me about?”

  “Yes, right here.” She handed him the key ring with two of the keys uppermost.

  A moment later, Thor had the kitchen door open. He put a finger to his lips and waved Rocky ahead of them.

  A moment later, the dog returned. He paused at a dark spot on the kitchen floor and sniffed with great interest. Then he snorted and returned to Thor.

  “All clear,” said Thor softly, “but no point in making unnecessary noise. Could be bugged. Let’s take a look. Can you see without the flashlight?” The sun’s last rays were doing little to light the interior, but it was not yet dark.

  “I roamed this little house in my dreams for fifteen years,” said Ashley. “I can walk it blindfolded.”

  “Let’s take a quick tour. If you see anything that strikes you as odd, give me a sign.”

  “Okay.”

  Thor stopped by the dark stain on the floor. He whispered, “This the blood stain?”

  Ashley nodded.

  Thor knelt for a moment and used a pocket knife to scrape off a quarter-inch section of stain. He dropped it into a baggie and stuffed it into his pocket.

  The rest of the tour went off without a hitch. Thor used his flashlight to sweep the interior of the closet in the downstairs bedroom.

  “Pretty sparse. I think your first impression was correct. They took photos and the clothes they cared about, and left everything else.”

  “Except the figurines,” said Ashley. “Mother cared about those more than anything. I can’t believe she left them on purpose.”

  “She hid one for you with a note. If she took the rest, her husband might have questioned why one was missing. Maybe she didn’t want to draw attention to them. Check the bottoms. See if she left any more notes for you.”

  Quickly but carefully, Ashley lifted each of the figurines remaining in the case. No more notes. They were all empty.

  “Let’s check your room.”

  “If someone’s watching, won’t they see the staircase?”

  Thor made a face. “Good point. Damn. I wanted to see if you could find your mother’s note.”