Nailed (Marked For Love #1) (6 page)

His mouth full of Tetrazzini, he shook his head no.

"So, what did you get your sister for her sixteenth birthday?"

"Wet. I threw her in the pool."

The mental picture of him picking up his cute, willowy sister who probably had his blue-green eyes, and her screaming while he swung her around had me hiding a giggle behind my wine glass.

The guy was good,
damn him
.

"And I got in big-ass trouble too."

"How old were you?"

"Twenty and home from college. She got me back though. Two years later she set me up on a date with one of her friends. Six months later I married her, and here I am."

"You were married for fifteen years?"

Wynn just didn't strike me as a man who'd been married that long. I mean, you could just
tell
, for Pete's sake! Married people just
looked
different. And acted different, too. Scowling I watched him have a choking fit. Once he recovered he got us both more wine and sat beside me. Uncomfortably close, even.

Close enough so that a) I couldn't look at him and b) we were bumping elbows as we tried to finish our dinner. Nice stalling tactic.

"We didn't live together for most of it."

I couldn't help myself. "So why did you—"

"—stay married?"

"No. Finally get a divorce."

"She met someone."

"Let me guess, another woman?"

"No, actually it was another man," he said, nodding slowly. He didn't sound like he'd minded either.

I would have apologized except he didn't sound like a man who...wait a minute. "She left you for another man, she barely lived with you
and
she cleaned you out."

"No—" he pointed his fork in my general direction, "—she
tried
to clean me out. I've found that, for the most part, rich women are just flat out greedy."

"Even your mom?"

"
My
mom is the exception to
every
rule."

Smiling easily, he raised his wineglass, and I did likewise even though I had no mom and hadn't in quite some time. And when she was alive she'd been a total pain in my ass, nagging at me to get married like my sister, Karen had. And Jesus, that turned out well—well done and crispy.

I snorted softly then realized, or remembered, I wasn't alone at home, alone, on my couch, where it was okay to think up random insults for the dead sister who'd ruined your life. I was sitting here with Wynn. Sometime soon I'd have to bust him for hunting me down.

And I knew just how to do it.

Chapter Ten

Wynn sat on his air mattress in his darkened bedroom, sipping wine and waiting on Julie to make her move.

Her sudden departure after dinner had left him worried she planned to bolt sometime in the night, and he had to stop her, at all costs. The security light from outside illuminated the sparse apartment landscape with a pale yellow glow broken by the deep slash of shadows.

The stories about his sister, Danielle, had worked like a charm, but he'd nearly fucked up saying he'd never lived with Kelly. They had, in fact, eloped his junior year of college and promptly gotten a divorce five short months later, something her daddy had paid her handsomely to do. It was a lesson learned, and Wynn didn't waste time on bitterness.

Across the way, the lights were out in Bonnie's apartment but still he waited until she finally came slipping out her apartment door dressed in dark clothes. Much to his relief, she was empty handed. Maybe she was just going on another peeping expedition. Or maybe she was going to move her truck. With one last glance out the blinds, Wynn stood and hurried to the living room blinds.

Even from inside he could hear the slight rattle of the stairs as she made a slow descent. He forced his anxiety down and waited, watching her circle the pool. A quick glance at his watch assured him it was only just after ten. She stopped to talk to the old man across the way before continuing her walk, finally disappearing from view. Obviously, she was in no hurry.

Wynn slipped out his own front door, checking to see if she'd doubled back before he descended the stairs.

As quietly as possible he circled around the side of the building, listening for the crunch of her shoes in the dirt before he moved any further. There wasn't a lot of light here thanks to the pine trees between him and them. He should have known something was up when he didn't hear any footsteps but he'd attributed it to Julie just walking quietly. She hadn't been walking, she'd been waiting, as he found out when something solid connect with the side of his knee.

He went down hard, white hot pain radiating up his leg, making his stomach tighten and his eyes tear up in shock and pain as a body settled on his chest and pinned his arms to the ground.

"Hi, Wynn." Julie tossed aside the aluminum bat she'd nailed him with. It clattered sharply against the asphalt, setting his teeth even more on edge.

She was cutting off his oxygen supply and between that and the pain he could barely think.

Fuck!
How the hell had he underestimated her? He knew how. He'd been thinking with his dick, assuming he could charm her, woo her for what he wanted. The girl had gone to a lot of trouble to stay hidden, she'd be smart enough to pick up on someone following her and going into her apartment, invading her space, had been a huge miscalculation on his part.
Stupid dick!
"How you doing babe?" he panted, trying to breathe through the pain.

"I've been better. How's your knee?"

"Hurts like a mother fucker," he ground out.

She leaned down until they were nearly face to face, and softly enunciated each word, "What the fuck do you want from me?"

"I was just wondering where you were going."

The weight on his chest increased, her thighs tightened on his arms, the rough pavement digging into his back. "Liar. If you wanted to kill me, I'd be dead already. So what do you want, Wynn?"

Fuck!
Fuck!
"Information," he panted, sucking as much air as possible through his nose. "That's all. Just information. I swear to God, I'm not a killer."

"How do I know you won't go back and tell your hitman friends where I am?"

"All I want is to know where your sister is, and I'm out of here."

"I haven't spoken to Lisa in years."

"Not Lisa.
Karen
."

"She's dead. Thanks to one of your little friends, I'm sure. And I saw your face. Now you have to kill me. That's how it works."

He would have laughed but he couldn't because of the weight of her on his chest. "She's not dead. And I told you, I'm not a killer. But in—"

"Liar! The police said they found two bodies!"

"She's not dead. WITSEC was supposed to take her and Kevin in, but they died. Or appeared to. They're not. I swear to you, Karen's not dead, but your life's in jeopardy, and probably Lisa's too, if you don't help me."

His bomb had the desired effect; she relaxed from the shock of the news. He bucked, sending her flying over his head, and had her on her back pinned under him. "I'm not a killer but in five or six days one will be here if you don't help me. And he's not nice."

"Friend of yours?" She gasped. Then sniffed. Shit she was crying, goddamnit!

"Brother." He winced, cursing his stupidity again. His knee hurt from the sudden movement. "Look, I'm sorry about your sister—"

"Right,
fucker
."

"I have to find her. Her husband, Kevin, has something that doesn't belong to him."

"Is that why they tried to kill her?" Now she was struggling for air, her chest huffing. Her tears were about to turn into a full blown crying jag.

"They didn't. I think your sister staged a suicide."

"Why the
fuck
—"

"Who the hell knows. But she worked in the morgue and she had free access to all the John and Jane Does she could want. The recovered bodies were burned beyond identification."

"Then where is she? Where's my sister?"

"We don't know. If I let you up, you promise not to run?"

She glanced up at his arm pinning her hands above her head then back at him, trying to process it all.

"I like you. I don't want to hurt you, Julie."

"My name's Bonnie. Bonnie James."

"Your name is Julie Burt." He released her hands, slowly struggled to his feet and then held out a hand to help her up. "I've been hunting you for nearly eighteen months."

Her expression guarded, she accepted his help, immediately releasing his hand once she was on her feet, then wiping her hands on her pants.

"Let's walk." A hand at her back, he led her between two parked cars to the middle of the parking lot where they had more room. "Have you had
any
contact with Karen?"

"No. I told you!"

"But if you had, would you tell me the truth?" He grinned in the dark, not surprised when she said no again. "I believe you, okay? Do you have any clue where she and Kevin would go?"

"Up until five minutes ago I thought she was dead! How the hell am I supposed to know where she is?" She spun away from him, turned and gave him a shove that knocked him off balance and made his knee spasm in pain. "And why the hell should I tell you anything?"

"Because if you don't, a very bad man is going to come and put a gun to your head, pull the trigger and dump your body in the desert for the coyotes to pick apart. Then they're going after Lisa, and eventually they will find Karen and Kevin. Do you want that? Huh?"

"No."

"Look, I know you're tough. I know you're smart and I know you can handle yourself but the only way to save your life—"

"Is to help you find my sister so your brother can kill her and Kevin?"

"Not exactly an ideal situation, I know. For what it's worth, I just want what they have. I don't want to hurt them...or you." He couldn't be anymore honest than that. "My brother, on the other hand…"

"So you get what you want and just go away?"

"Yeah."

"No questions asked?"

"Yeah."

"Bullshit!" She shoved him again. Enough to set his knee to hurting yet again.

Enough to piss him off so he'd shove back. Then he got her upper arm in a vise grip and dragged her to his apartment, slamming and locking the door behind him before he finally released her. "Don't go anywhere."

He limped to the kitchen and filled a bag with ice then rejoined her. She stood with her back to him peeking out between the blinds much like she'd done earlier.

Finally, she turned to face him, the fear in her pale face obvious under the 60-watt bulb of the lamp. "You really aren't going to kill me?"

"I'm not a killer, but my brothers and father are."

She snorted softly. "Aren't you the big disappointment?"

"You have
no
idea." He sank down on the floor and held the ice on his knee. He knew that put her above him, but he figured she needed to feel in control right now. The last thing he wanted or needed to do now was scare her into running.

"So, how did you end up the white sheep of the family?"

Laughing, he said, "Mom."

She sat silently a while, then said, "What do we do now?"

"We find your sister. I've tapped some sources, so I know for sure they're not in witness protection. That means they're out there somewhere. We find them, we get the evidence from them, and then we help them and you get out of the country."

"Why are you helping me?"

"I'm not even supposed to be telling you any of this, let alone
helping
you. Most of the time, I go after people who get what they deserve. Know what I mean?" He continued after she nodded. "That's my job. People like you and your sister and Kevin
are not my job
."

"Okay?" Her voice was low and hoarse. She looked stunned and shaken.

He felt bad for her but they didn't have time to waste. She was strong, resilient and she'd make a quick recovery because deep down inside, she knew she had to.

 "You're taking this awful well," he said, laughing.

"I think I'm still processing. You have any of that wine left?"

"A little." He made to get up but she waved him down and helped herself.

"Want some?"

"No. I better not. Bonnie, I hate to push, but tell me what you know about the night you thought Karen and Kevin died."

Chapter Eleven

"To be honest, not a lot." Back from the kitchen, I sank down beside Wynn, still trying to process the fact that my sister and brother-in-law were alive. "Karen came by after dinner to drop off Clyde. They were going on vacation. Well they
said
they were going on vacation, but they'd been acting weird for a while."

"How long?"

"Couple weeks. Just after the Fourth of July." I took a big sip of my wine and licked the traces of it off my lips, trying to recall as much as I could as quickly as I could. "I just chalked it up to a friend of theirs committing suicide."

"And?" he prompted. "Where did she say they were going?"

"Grand Cayman on some cruise out of Florida—"

"Where your sister is."

"Lisa?" I breathed. "I haven't seen her since Mom and Dad died." Hadn't talked to her either. I hadn't wanted to; she was a mess.

"She's there. My brother tracked her down. Said she could barely be bothered to go to Scottsdale and settle your sister's estate."

"I'm not surprised." I shook my head. Lisa was a head case. "Karen said that things weren't going well at work for Kevin and that he really needed this vacation. She also said Kevin was afraid and that he was giving notice as soon as he got back. It was almost like she was hinting so when the cops showed up a couple hours later, I freaked out and ran. Does Lisa think I'm dead too?"

"Technically, you're just missing. There was even talk for a while that you were involved with your sister's death, but that went away pretty quickly. From what I read, the whole thing came under
a lot
of scrutiny from the police though, before it just died out."

"From what you read?"