If You Know Her: A Novel of Romantic Suspense (18 page)

A ring—one Hope hadn’t been wearing earlier, she was pretty sure. Without thinking twice, she blurted out, “Nice rock.”

Law glanced at her, a puzzled look on his face.

Then he looked at Hope. Two seconds, a grin split his face and he was across the foyer, whooping as he caught Hope in his arms, spinning her around.

Despite herself, Nia smiled.

The love between the two of them was obvious.

Obvious, strong … and it broke Nia’s heart to look at them. Not because she was jealous. What she saw between them wasn’t anything more than the sort of love a brother and sister would share, she imagined—a lot like the love she’d shared with Joely, really. That’s what it was … she realized. That was their bond.

And that was why it hurt so damn bad.

Swallowing the knot in her throat, she backed away, leaving them and ducking back into the living room. Her bra and her torn panties were still in a neat little pile by the door and she managed to gather them up without Law noticing, but as she headed down the hallway for the bathroom, the excited chatter behind her went oddly quiet.

She didn’t hear him behind her, but nonetheless, knew he was back there.

Swearing under her breath, she tried to plaster a smile on her face as she turned to look at him.

“You said you weren’t leaving.”

Glancing past him, she looked at Hope who had already turned to her apparently new fiancé. Hope was gazing up at him, and he was smiling down at her, toying with her hair.

It was a look that seemed too intimate to be shared, even though Nia was the only one who could see them.

It was a look that made her heart sigh in wistful envy.

Swallowing, she tore her eyes away and looked back up at Law. “I hadn’t planned on it. But this …” She blew out a breath and said softly, “This is something special and I don’t need to be a part of it.”

“And what if I want you to be a part of it?”

The look on his face, in his eyes, made her melt. Reaching up, she laid a hand on his cheek and murmured, “Then I have to say, as sweet as you are … it’s selfish.” She flicked a quick look at Hope, then back. “This is about her, and Law, she’s not comfortable around me, nor
should
she be. Don’t force me on her … don’t mess this up for her.”

He caught her chin in his hand and dipped his head, pressed his brow to hers. “You don’t need to be getting all logical on me.”

“Ha-ha.” She rubbed her mouth against his and then eased back. “Maybe I can leave you my cell number. You could call me.”

“Hmmm. Yeah. Maybe I can do that.”

She gave him another weak smile and disappeared into the bathroom while the crack in her heart widened.

Widened … and now it was spilling out black, bitter poison.

Just seeing Law and Hope together had reminded her. Reminded her, once more, why she was here.

When she was with Law, it was easy to forget … easy to let herself forget.

She couldn’t keep doing that. She needed to be doing
something
.

Nia didn’t even know what, but she needed to be doing something.

Law wasn’t too happy about her leaving, but he did get Nia’s number.

If he had his way about it, he’d either be joining her
that night, or she’d be back at his place. Although maybe that was rushing things.

Maybe they could just have sex again …

Shit. As she told Remy and Hope good-bye, he bit his tongue on trying to talk her into hanging around.

She was right.

The air was already too damn tense, and things between Nia and Hope needed to ease up on their own. He could see that.

Didn’t mean he had to like it, right?

As long as Hope, and most especially Remy, didn’t give her grief when she left, maybe things could start to settle a little.

Hell, he never would have thought he was an optimist.

To their credit, neither Hope nor Remy said a thing while Nia was in the house. And they didn’t even say anything the minute the door closed. It wasn’t until the sounds of her bike’s powerful engine had faded that Hope looked at him, her brows arched over green eyes.

Somehow, she managed to look amused, concerned, and irritated, all at once.

“Well. That was unexpected,” she said slowly.

“Was it?” He scratched his chest, wished he wasn’t already missing Nia like hell. “Why don’t I take the two of you out to eat? We could go to the Inn. A congratulations sort of thing.”

“Actually—” Remy said.

“That’s a great idea,” Hope interjected, narrowing her eyes and giving Remy a look that all but dared him to say anything. “And you can tell me all about your weekend.”

Law lifted a brow. “Hope, my weekend is none of your business.”

“Did you forget the last time she was here?”

“Nope.” He gestured toward the living room. “I need to go change. I’ll be down in a few.”

“Damn it, Law …”

He tuned everything else out, told himself he’d figure out some way to calm her down, level things out while he changed. But his mind was straying … wandering back to Nia, and the sudden grief he’d seen in her eyes.

Her cousin. She hadn’t said anything, but something had her thinking about her cousin again.

“Whoa … sparkly …”

Hope flushed as Roz shot her a look and waggled her eyebrows, then nudged Remy with her elbow. “You did good, man. Lena, this ring is gorgeous, emerald and diamonds. Classy, unique … lovely.”

“You’d know jewelry,” Lena said dryly, making her way over to the private table with a bottle of champagne.

“Well.” Roz chuckled, toying with the golden chain around her neck. “I do love my shiny stuff.”

From behind, Carter hugged her. “We know that, baby.”

Hope smiled up at the two of them as Carter rubbed his cheek against his wife’s, his darker blond hair mingling with Roz’s pale, almost platinum blond. He kissed her gently and then eased back, grinning at his cousin. “So. You’re getting married. I would have had a hard time believing it a few months ago, you know. But ever since Hope showed up … well, I guess things change. Congratulations.”

“Thanks.”

“I called Ezra,” Lena said. “He’s coming out, too. An impromptu party …” She grinned wryly and added, “Although I won’t be in attendance much. We’re packed out there.”

“We’ll do a for-real thing in a few weeks, maybe,” Law said. “Casual, though. Maybe at my place.”

Hope glanced down, hoping he wouldn’t see the worry in her eyes. His place … so he could invite Nia? Immediately, though, she wanted to kick herself. If he cared for the lady, she needed to get over this, right? Besides, it wasn’t like it would last that long. Nia was here for …

Abruptly, Hope scowled. Just why
was
Nia here?

She couldn’t stay in the cabin, Nia realized.

She’d planned to just get some more research done—her contacts had e-mailed her a veritable mountain of data and there was so much to comb through, plus she’d thought about trying to narrow things to
this
area.

But she couldn’t stay in the house.

Couldn’t.

In the end, she left, thinking maybe she’d ramble around the Inn, but halfway down the path, she froze, watching as a big, old white truck came rumbling down the drive.

It wasn’t the truck that froze her in place. It was the woman waiting out in front of the Inn. Sitting patiently at her side was the dog. Both were gazing at the truck and that told Nia who was probably inside it, especially as the dog’s tail started to wag.

Ezra.

Nibbling on her lip, she watched as he parked. He climbed out and saw her, gave her a half-wave, but he was focused on his wife. As they disappeared into the house, an idea started to burn in the back of her mind.

Lena was here.

Probably working.

Now Ezra was here. Would he be here for a while?

Hmmm.

Glancing down at her clothes, she decided it would do for a quick drink. After all, Roz had told her she could grab food in the Inn, either at the bar or take-out from the restaurant, eat in there and run a tab … whatever.

She shouldn’t be thinking along these lines.

Not at all.

But she kept thinking to herself that she needed to do something.

And now she just might have a shot. Ezra was eating there at the Inn. As was Law, Hope, and her fiancé—Remy, Nia thought was his name. All of them, tucked into what looked like a private dining room. She recognized Law’s voice, although she hadn’t seen him.

And the idea that had just been a mere whisper was now a roar.

Ezra and Lena were both here. Lena—

Seeing the woman who looked so much like Joely pulled Nia’s thoughts back to her focus, back to her purpose for being here.

Nia hadn’t been completely sitting on her hands. Or on Law’s lap … under him. She’d talked to people, done some investigating on her own—all public records stuff.

And now she was thinking of the screams. The screaming … out in the woods.

Lena had reported hearing a woman screaming.

Without bothering to get a drink, Nia slipped out of the Inn and hurried back to her cabin. It was daylight—for a little while, at least. Lena and Ezra were occupied. She might as well poke around. And although she hadn’t taken it with her to Law’s, she
did
have another unregistered gun. One she’d be more than happy to use.

Yeah, it was stupid—very damn stupid, she knew it. Dangerous.

But Nia was going to take a chance on being stupid,
on doing something dangerous, because she couldn’t live with this uncertainty in her gut, and unless she
found
something, nothing would change.

Ezra King might have some doubts of his own—she wouldn’t be surprised.

Law Reilly might suspect that not everything was exactly as it was reported in the official files. But suspicions wouldn’t do a damn bit of good if nobody ever bothered to look any deeper.

Or look
at all
.

That’s all she wanted to do right now—look. Look around some, see if she’d see anything, notice anything … or anybody.

She parked her bike just inside the woods. It wouldn’t be a good thing if somebody saw and then called it in, reported it. Nia had no doubt Ezra would hear about it, and she didn’t want him rushing out here.

He wouldn’t have any trouble figuring out what she was doing.

So it was better she just not be caught. She kept the gun tucked into a holster just under her left arm—easy to draw, hidden by the light jacket she wore. Although it was hotter than hell, even under the trees. She’d rather be hot and alive than cool and dead.

She also had a compass, used her phone to mark the position of her bike with the GPS—yeah, she’d done a few hikes before. She had bars on the phone, so hopefully she wouldn’t get too lost. Hopefully, she wouldn’t get lost at all.

Moving into the perpetual twilight of the trees, she paused a moment, let her eyes adjust. She’d deliberately picked a spot close to Lena King’s place to enter the trees. From here, she could just barely make out the gap where Lena’s property started, although she couldn’t see the house, yet. It was back from the road just a bit and as Nia walked, she started to catch glimpses of the
white-painted wood, the russet-red shutters, bright blooms of flowers.

For reasons she couldn’t explain, seeing that house left her chest aching. Had tears stinging her eyes.

She could almost see Joely struggling through the underbrush, struggling to reach the house.

Could hear the footsteps behind her—

A breath hissed out of her and she threw herself to the side, drawing the gun from her holster, staring around the woods, her back pressed to a tall oak. Listening—was there somebody following her?

No.

There was nothing.

You’re going crazy, Nia
.

Blowing out a breath, she closed her eyes, sent a look skyward. Over the next thirty seconds, her breathing calmed, her heart rate leveled out. Once she thought she might be able to speak without dissolving into the screaming meemies, she stared out over the trees … waited another minute.

Nothing. No sound.

Not even the breath of sound. Not even the suggestion of it.

Okay.

She took another slow step, and another … trying not to let thoughts of Joely crowd her mind. It was hard, though; she felt like there was nothing but the other woman’s memories, her thoughts, her losses, her aches, her sorrows, storming inside her.

Focus on why you’re here. Not on Joely
, she told herself.

But Joely
was
why she was here.

Joely’s life … ended. Her wedding—the one that would never happen.

Echoes of those dreams.

Why?

If Lena had heard screaming, if it had been Joely,
why
had she been
here
?

Was there a house? Some place for him to hide her? To hide
them
?

“No,” she muttered, shaking her head. Didn’t make sense.

If there was a house here, Sheriff Nielson would have known—they would have checked things out. Investigated. A shiver raced down her spine as she took one step, then another, her footfalls crunching on the damp bed of twigs and leaves.

Something—there had to be something out here.

Moving deeper into the woods, her eyes running along the trees, she started down a slope. The trail abruptly veered to the north, away from the lip of a cliff. Cautiously, with a quick glance around, Nia edged off the trail toward that precipice.

Something … had to be something.

“No,” she muttered, shaking her head. “Not
something
. Someplace hidden.”

She kicked at the rocky ground under her feet, an idea brewing in her head. A cave, maybe?

“A cave,” Nia muttered. Abruptly, she passed a hand over her face and realized she was talking to herself, realized she was standing in the middle of the woods, one hand gripping her gun, and she was talking to herself. “Hidden.”

She closed her eyes as she ran that idea through her mind.

And then abruptly, an icy cold chill gripped her. Someplace dark. Hidden. Where he could have kept her alone, trapped, at his mercy.

In her gut, Nia knew, it had been here. Or someplace close … 
very
close.