Little Belle Gone (39 page)

He panted into her neck, “Mara...” She could hear the stomp of boots, the rush of bodies moving past her, around her, but nothing mattered now. It was over.
He
was dead. After nearly five minutes clinging tightly to Matt, a voice, soft and fragile, behind her forced her to lift her head. Alex stood wrapped in a blanket in the doorway, her slender neck streaked with the river of now dried blood. Matt had also heard the noise and turned too. He did not lower her to the ground immediately, but straightened and carried her over to her friend before setting her down. His arms never left her however, slipping round her waist and pulling her against his chest as he rested his chin on her head. Elizabeth embraced Alex, lightly, her body aching all over form the blows she had given, and taken.

“Liz, George...he...they couldn’t...he’s gone.” The sorrow in Alex’s voice was palpable and they cried together. Matt’s arms began to slip away and Elizabeth reeled around in a panic.

“It’s okay, I’m just going to go make sure the coroner takes good care of him. When you and Alex are ready, we will get out of here.” She smiled at him before he slipped into the sea of uniforms and rubber gloved investigators that had magically appeared all around them. Jack found her still clinging to Alex and lead the two shaken young women from the house. She hated the idea of having to call Mark and tell him that not only was his home violated, but that George, their trusted butler, and friend, was gone.
At least it’s over now, s
he sighed inwardly at the very thought,
freedom
. As she stepped out into the cold night air, brightened by the headlights and roof lights of an endless stream of cop cars filling the driveway, she caught sight of Matt. He was talking to the coroner, who was in the process of removing a gurney from the rear of his van. In spite of everything, she felt the smile spread across her lips. Her life could begin now, and he was going to be with her. Warmth spread over her as she drew nearer. When Alex stopped short, Liz turned in a haze to discover why. Alex wore the most knowing smile as she stared at her long-time friend.

“Go to him. I’ll be fine.” Elizabeth leaned in and kissed her on the cheek before releasing her arms. Moving slowly at first she took a few steps toward him. When their eyes met her slow steps became quick ones and she closed the gap between them at a run. Flinging her arms around his neck, she pressed her lips to his. He did not hesitate. Wrapping her tightly to him, he kissed her back, returning her joy with his own.

“Are you ready to go home?” He whispered into her mouth when they finally came up for air.

“Yes,” was all she could manage before he took her mouth again. She could feel the eyes moving over them, the horrified and confused looks from the people flooding into the scene of a horrific murder and hostage stand-off, that resulted in the death of the suspect.
Such a strange place to kiss.
She could almost hear it on their gasps, but she didn’t care, not anymore.

Matt sat nervously on the edge of the soft, rich, suede sofa in their living room. Bucky lay contentedly across his lap as the last moments of a sitcom streamed across the screen before him. He wasn’t really watching, though. He was too nervous to pay attention. Looking away from the droning box, his eyes drifted over the pictures, framed in wonderful rich woods and glass, that now adorned every inch of usable space. Elizabeth’s beautiful smile and magical eyes winked at him from every corner and he loved it. She had done an amazing job. After all the press had died down and their world returned to normal, she had followed through on her promise to redress their apartment, and it was fantastic. He wouldn’t have cared if she had painted the whole thing pink and surrounded him with lace, to be honest, but what she had done was impressive and fit them to a tee. Warm leather furniture, with soft colorful cushions, filled the once empty, cold space, and memories of their last four months together covered the walls. Her movies had joined his and the deep blue wall paint and automated curtains and blinds perfectly framed the city scape beyond his windows. As he sat petting the snoring beast in his lap, the sound of her humming as she dressed wafted out of the bedroom and caused his gut to clench. No matter how much of her he took, it was never enough. If she would only let him, he would never venture beyond their bed.

The wicked thought gave way to the memory of where they were headed and he swallowed hard. Without realizing it, he patted the side of his jacket, checking, once again, to make sure that the small velvet box was still nestled securely in his inside breast pocket. A sly smile curved over him as he shifted nervously. They were expected at the Yacht Club of Manhattan in a little under an hour for the dinner he had once promised her Uncle Mark.

He and Aggie had returned from France only days after the incident to attend to George’s arrangements. After all, they were really the only family the poor man had. After saying their good-byes, they had set about the unhappy task of interviewing replacements and found that returning to their winter retreat was no longer a viable option. Mark had tried many times over the last four months to get the little dinner arranged, but Matt and Elizabeth had managed to avoid the encounter, until now.

They were now extremely busy. After the scene at the Targstead estate unfolded, news programs from all over the nation had grabbed hold of the “dating detectives” with both hands, making it impossible for them to hide their involvement from anyone. At first they were afraid the commissioner would split them up, but the public rallied in support of their partnership and they were allowed to continue on. In the last few months they had solved some of New York’s most high profile crimes and had become the envy of their entire department. Despite everything that they saw day in and day out, tonight would test his patients, and his nerve. This would be the first time that his mother and father would meet Elizabeth, but that did not worry him. In the months since Moreano’s death she had become happier, warmer, than he had ever seen her and it only made his love more desperate. There was simply no resisting Liz, not anymore.

“I’m ready. Shall we?” He stood to meet her and his heart stopped. She was always beautiful, but tonight seemed more intense. Perhaps it was her nervous smile that had him struggling for breath. Or perhaps it was the ring burning a hole in his chest that made looking at her, in that soft lavender cocktail dress that he loved so much, almost painful. He moved across the apartment to her with jerky steps, involuntarily patting the chest of his coat again, just to be sure.

Elizabeth grinned at him as he slid around her and helped her on with her coat. She kissed him lightly on the cheek and followed him to the door, calling out to Bucky to be a good boy while they were out, the whole time musing over the discrete pat Matt had laid on his breast pocket. It was the twelfth time she had seen him do that very thing in the last two days, the sixth this evening, and she was almost sure she had worked out what it meant. Her pulse raced with the idea of it, the thrill of anticipation, and the struggle over just how to react when it happened. She wondered if she should act utterly shocked, pretend to be speechless, or if she should play it coy and give him a sly seductive answer whispered in his ear. That would certainly send him reeling and she did so enjoy unnerving him. She found the shocked arousal that filled his eyes when she did things like that thoroughly intoxicating. Ultimately, it didn’t really matter how she answered, just that he asked.

His steps were nervous as he lead her down the hallway, and as they waited on the elevator, she curled around his arm, trying not to giggle as he, once again, reached for the hidden object in his coat. When the doors opened on the empty little room, she pulled him fiercely into the small space and enveloped him in that wicked little frame of hers, purring against him as the doors slid closed. “Liz, settle down. We have to meet my parents in a few minutes and I don’t want to spend the evening having to constantly...shift myself.” He was teasing her and she knew it.

“I make no promises of the kind. I will do what I want, when I want and you will sit back and enjoy it.” His grin turned mischievous as he reached out and hit the button for the lobby.

“As you wish, Mara, darling,” he whispered as he pinned her against the elevator wall, diving for her mouth. She wrapped around him, sinking into his firm, strong body, perfectly happy and wondrously free.

• Title page
  
• Prologue
  
• Chapter 1
  
• Chapter 2
  
• Chapter 3
  
• Chapter 4
  
• Chapter 5
  
• Chapter 6
  
• Chapter 7
  
• Chapter 8
  
• Chapter 9
  
• Chapter 10
  
• Chapter 11
  
• Chapter 12
  
• Chapter 13
  
• Chapter 14
  
• Chapter 15
  
• Chapter 16
  
• Chapter 17
  
• Chapter 18
  
• Chapter 19
  
• Chapter 20
  
• Chapter 21
  
• Chapter 22
  
• Chapter 23
  
• Chapter 24
  
• Chapter 25
  
• Chapter 26
  
• Chapter 27
  
• Chapter 28
  
• Chapter 29
  
• Chapter 30
  
• Chapter 31
  
• Chapter 32
  
• Chapter 33
  
• Chapter 34
  
• Chapter 35
  
• Chapter 36
  
• Chapter 37
  
• Chapter 38
  
• Chapter 39
  
• Chapter 40
  
• Chapter 41
  
• Chapter 42
  
• Chapter 43
  
• Chapter 44
  
• Chapter 45
  
• Chapter 46
  
• Chapter 47
  
• Chapter 48
  
• Chapter 49
  
• Epilogue