Sail Away (23 page)

“If you don’t tell him, I will.”

“Oh, Marnie,” he said, shaking his head again. “I don’t think you’re in a position to bargain.” With that, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small but deadly pistol. Marnie’s heart stopped.

“You couldn’t—”

“Maybe not. But I don’t have many choices left, do I? If only Drake had butted out, this all would’ve worked.”

“You mean if he’d taken the fall.”

He motioned with his gun to the door. “Hand me the books, then climb on deck. I think we should take a little cruise until I figure out what I’ve got to do.”

“You’re going to kidnap me?” she cried, fear giving way to stark terror. Alone on the open sea with Kent. But it was better than having Adam show up here and innocently walk into the barrel of Kent’s gun.

“No, Marnie,” he said as surely as if he could read her mind, “I’m not going to kidnap you. You’re going to come with me willingly. Otherwise, I might have to find a way to kill your boyfriend and plant some evidence on him that proves without a doubt that he was the man who embezzled from your father.”

“I’d never go along with that story,” she said, her throat squeezing together so that it was hard to speak.

“Hopefully you won’t have to. Maybe I’ll bargain with Drake. If he cares anything for you, he might be willing to confess in order to spare your life and his.”

Marnie could barely believe her ears. Did Kent actually think that Adam would claim responsibility for a crime he didn’t commit, just to save her? Though Kent’s pistol worried her, she couldn’t accept the fact that he would actually shoot her. Embezzling was one kind of crime; murder was an entirely different story. Though cold fear crawled up her spine, she didn’t really believe that Kent was capable of murder. This was all a bluff; it had to be.

Aware of Kent right behind her, she climbed the stairs to the deck, where the wind had picked up speed and sails were snapping loudly. “This is crazy, Kent. You’re no killer. You couldn’t hurt anyone.”

“Tell that to your friend, Ed.”

“Ed?” she repeated, her dread and adrenaline causing her heart to beat triple-time. “You didn’t—”

“He never knew what hit him, but, no, he’s not dead. Just sleeping for a while.”

Only then did she realize just how desperate Kent had become. “What did you do to him?” she demanded, turning to face him, though her hair swept in front of her eyes. She thought she caught a movement of something on the bridge, another person, and her heart plummeted. Kent had brought along his accomplice.

“Don’t worry about Ed. He’ll survive,” Kent assured her again. “Now, come on. You’re so good at stealing this boat and sailing off into the sunset, why don’t you do the honors and man the helm?”

A smug smile toyed at his lips, and Marnie never wanted to strike a person so much as she did just then. Her hand drew back to slap him.

“Don’t even think about it,” he warned.

From the corner of her eye, she caught a flash of movement. She turned and discovered Adam hurling himself from the bridge, flying through the air and straight at Kent.

“What—” Kent whirled, aimed his pistol, but Marnie, already poised to strike, hit his hand and the gun, flashing fire, spun out of his hand. Adam landed on Kent and sent them both sprawling along the smooth planks of the deck.

The accounting books were knocked from Kent’s grasp. They fluttered upward and caught on the wind before dropping and sliding across the deck to drop into the sea. The computer disk followed, and Marnie raced to the rail, trying vainly to capture the evidence before it settled into the cold, dark waters. But the disk settled quickly beneath the surface. Devastated, she dared one look over her shoulder and grinned inwardly.

Adam was on top of Kent, one fist clenched around the front of Kent’s expensive shirt, the other poised over his face, ready to pummel Kent’s perfect features to a bloody mass.

Marnie didn’t hesitate. Kicking off her shoes, she climbed onto the rail, poised for half a second, then dived neatly between the
Marnie Lee
and the boat tethered next to her.

“Marnie! Wait!” Adam’s voice rang across the sound as ice-cold water rushed over her in a frigid wave. She swam downward, through the murky water, trying to see the books and the computer disk, hoping to keep some shred of evidence against Kent.

But the water was dark between the boats, and though she searched, she found nothing, not one paper drifting through the depths. Her lungs burned and she swam upward breaking the surface and gasping for air.

She glanced up at the
Marnie Lee
and watched as Adam dived into the water beside her. He surfaced a minute later, treading water and wiping water from his eyes.

“Anything?” he asked.

“Nothing.”

He dived again, and Marnie followed suit, hoping against hope that not all of the evidence was lost. But she saw nothing,
nothing
and she knew in her heart that by this time, the pages that hadn’t settled to the floor of the sound would be ruined and indecipherable. As for the computer disk, what were the chances that it, if discovered, was still operable?

Something slithered by her toes and she inwardly cringed at the thought of what kind of fish or eel had passed. She kicked toward the surface again.

With a loud roar, the engines of the
Marnie Lee
caught fire and the propeller started to churn in the dark water creating a whirlpool that sucked everything in its current. Marnie felt herself being pulled with papers, flotsam and kelp toward the craft. She struggled, swimming toward the shore against the drag of the frigid water, but the stern of the boat swung hard, coming closer. She managed to break the surface and gulp for air, but caught a mouthful of water.

“Watch out!” Adam cried, swimming toward her in quick, sure strokes. He wrapped one strong arm around her waist and swam with all his might toward the dark piers and the protection of the docks as she coughed and retched.

He only stopped when they were safely beneath the wharf and he could hold on to the barnacled pilings for support. “You okay?’ he asked, and genuine concern etched his face.

“I—I’m fine,” she gasped, her throat still squeezing shut against the onslaught of foul-tasting water. “But Kent. He’s getting away!” Disappointment weighted her down. They’d lost the evidence they so sorely needed!

“He won’t get far,” Adam predicted. She turned in the water, so that her body was pressed to his.

“Why not?”

Tenderly Adam brushed aside a lank lock of hair that was plastered to her cheek. “I figured he’d make a run for it. I already called the Coast Guard. He’ll be picked up before you and I get dried off.”

“You didn’t!”

“Oh, yes, I did.” His brown eyes appeared darker in the shifting shadows beneath the dock. “Besides,” he said, his voice thick, “it doesn’t matter.”

“Doesn’t matter? Are you kidding? Do you know what those papers were?”

Adam’s arm tightened around her. “If I were a betting man, I’d say they were the records explaining where all the missing funds went.”

“Right, and now they’re gone!” Her lips trembled from the cold. “And—and Kent, he won’t admit to anything.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Adam advised, his face closing the small distance between them.

“Why not?”

“Because it doesn’t matter. When I saw Kent with that gun pointed at you, I realized that nothing mattered but your safety. God, I’ve been a fool.” He kissed her then, his lips pressing possessively to hers, his mouth molding along the yielding contours of hers. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and despite the icy cold water, she felt warm and secure. As long as she was with Adam,
nothing else mattered.

A
s soon as they climbed out of the water, Adam located a phone in the office of the marina and called an ambulance for Ed. The ambulance arrived within fifteen minutes, and Ed, arguing his health, was whisked off to the nearest hospital. After drying off with a couple of towels, courtesy of the locker room of the marina, Adam drove Marnie to the hospital, where they waited until Ed’s doctor assured them that he’d be all right. Ed was suffering from a minor concussion. The doctor, a very distinguished man in his sixties whose authority brooked no argument, insisted, over Ed’s very vocal protests, on keeping him in the hospital overnight for observation.

Two hours later, after witnessing Ed’s cantankerous ribbing with one of the nurses, Marnie and Adam were satisfied that he would manage one night at Eastside General.

“Let’s go to my place and clean up,” Adam suggested as they climbed back into his car.

“So my apartment isn’t good enough?” Marnie teased.

“Not tonight.” Adam considered the printouts still strewn across Marnie’s kitchen table and his conversation with Victor. He didn’t want any reminders of the afternoon. Besides, until he’d heard that Kent was apprehended and locked up, he wanted to keep Marnie safe. The picture in his mind, of Kent pointing a pistol at Marnie’s chest, kept returning in vivid and terrifying clarity.

Though Kent might know where Adam lived, he’d be less likely to try to surprise them there.

Adam’s condominium was located on the eastern shore of Lake Washington, planted on a wooded hillside with steps that wound down to a private dock where his boat was anchored—remnants of the good life courtesy of Victor Montgomery.

He’d brought Marnie here a couple of times in the past few weeks, but they’d never stayed long and not once had she spent the night. Tonight would be different.

“First dibs on the shower,” she said as they walked into the entry hall and gazed through a double bank of ceiling high windows with a view of the flint-colored waters of the lake. The bedrooms were downstairs, and Marnie walked confidently through Adam’s room to the master bath, where she peeled off her clothes and stepped under the shower’s steamy spray. The hot water rinsed the grit and briny smell from her skin. She washed her hair as well, trying to clean away the memory of Kent, his gun, and the pages of the accounting records as they floated just out of her reach.

She didn’t hear Adam enter the bathroom, but felt the cold rush of air as he shoved aside the glass shower door and joined her in the misty warmth of the shower’s spray.

“Couldn’t wait?” she teased, glancing back over her shoulder to see his handsome face in the fog.

“That’s one way of putting it.” But he didn’t seem all that interested in the soap. Standing behind her, he reached forward, his hands surrounding her abdomen as he pulled her closer to him, his fingers spreading over her skin as he drew her tight enough that her buttocks pressed against his thighs.

Her skin tingled, and the water acted as a lubricant, allowing his hands to move silkily against her skin, as he turned her toward him. Heat, as liquid as the gentle spray, uncoiled within her.

She felt his hardness and the brush of his lips against her nape as he kissed her damp skin. She moaned low in her throat, and his fingers moved slowly upward, grazing the underside of her breasts, causing her nipples to stand erect.

He captured both her breasts in his hands, and she arched backward as he entered her, driving deeply into that warm womanly void that only he could fill.

I love you,
she thought, but didn’t dare utter the words. Instead she gasped as he moved within her, long and sure, causing a spasm of delight to ripple through her body as she braced against the wet tiles, receiving all of him eagerly.

“Marnie, love,” he whispered against her ear, as he moved faster and faster until she was caught up in a whirlpool of emotion that wound tighter and tighter until she was spinning out of control, her breathing labored, her mind and soul filled with only Adam.

Crying her name, he plunged into her and collapsed and she, too, fell against the tile, her heart pounding in her ears. She didn’t want to move, couldn’t get enough air.

Finally, when her breathing had slowed to normal, she coughed and Adam chuckled. “We’d better get out of here before we drown.”

“Or before the water turns cold,” she agreed with a laugh.

They spent the rest of the evening sipping wine, eating wedges of cheese and bread and making love. As if their narrow escape had heightened Adam’s need to be with her, he barely let her out of his sight. Even when she insisted on rinsing out her dress and hoping it would dry, he was right at her side, assuring her she looked stunning in his faded old bathrobe.

They were settled on the couch, staring at the sunset when Marnie stretched and smiled at Adam. “I guess it’s time to do my daughterly duty.”

“What’s that?” he asked warily.

“I think I’d better call Dad and tell him what happened.”

“Maybe you should wait on that,” he suggested, taking her hand and drawing her into the circle of his arms. She was half lying against him, his legs surrounding hers, her back pressed to his chest, and his face was nestled next to hers.

“Until when? Kent calls up and asks for bail money?”

She glanced sideways to catch his gaze. Adam’s golden brown eyes held hers, and for the first time a premonition of fear slid down her spine. “There’s something you’re not telling me.”

“I saw your father today,” Adam said slowly, as if the words were hard to find. “He stopped by your apartment—seemed to think that you had dinner plans with him.”

Marnie’s stomach knotted. “Oh. I didn’t have any plans with him, but Kate thought the same thing. She was supposed to get hold of him and cancel.”

At the mention of Kate’s name, Adam’s brows quirked. “She must’ve forgotten. Anyway, the upshot is that he not only found me in your apartment but he also saw the printouts.”

“Oh, God,” she whispered, a dull roar starting in her ears.

“He leapt to the wrong conclusions—”

“—that I was betraying him!” The dull roar seemed louder, more deafening; it beat through her brain and created a dark cloud at the corner of her vision.

“I tried to explain that it was all my fault, but he wouldn’t listen. You know how he can get.”

“Oh, yes,” she said silently, waiting for the ax to fall. Victor would’ve been outraged that his only daughter had turned Judas on him. “He fired me, didn’t he?”

“For starters.”

“Worse?” Her insides crumbled. She’d never meant to hurt her father, and yet she’d done the one thing Victor could not handle. “Don’t tell me. He disowned me.”

“Something like that,” Adam said, and there was naked pain in his eyes. As if he really did care what happened to her.

The glorious evening turned into a nightmare. Yes, she’d wanted her independence; yes, she’d wanted to follow her own path; but she’d never intended to wound her father, only to show him the truth—that Adam was innocent.

Tears stung the backs of her eyes, and she pulled out of Adam’s embrace, as if in so doing she could change the past.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered.

She laughed bitterly through the tears. “Don’t be. It wasn’t your fault,” she said, flinging his own words back at him when she’d once tried to solace him.

“Yes. But this time it’s a lie. This is all my fault. I knew involving you was a mistake, but it seemed the only logical way.” Sighing, he threw back his head and stared at the ceiling. “I should never have put you into this kind of a position.”

“But you did and I went into this with my eyes open.”

“I pushed you.”

“Well, maybe a little on the island. You weren’t invited. But not since we’ve been back. Since we landed in Seattle, I chose to see you. I could just have easily chosen not to.”
Except that I was beginning to fall in love with you,
she thought desperately, unable to utter the words. She didn’t want to chase him out of her life by bringing up an emotion he didn’t believe in, and now, after she’d learned that she’d lost her father, Adam was speaking as if he, too, were going to disappear from her life. Shivering, she rubbed her arms and felt the cozy warmth of terry cloth that smelled like him.

“There’s more,” he finally said as the shadows lengthened across the room.

“What could it possibly be?”

“I think I know who Kent’s accomplice is.”

“You do?” She was skeptical, and a headache was building behind her eyes. It wasn’t every day a girl lost her family in one fell stroke.

“Kate Delany,” he said.

“Kate?” She almost laughed. “You’re out of your mind! No one is more loyal to my father than Kate.”

He looked at her long and hard. “You like her, don’t you?”

“Yes! She’s like—well, not a second mother, but a big sister to me. Don’t tell me she’s a part of this mess, because I won’t believe you!” Marnie said, her voice rising an octave as a wave of hysteria hit her. Too much had happened in one day and she couldn’t believe that Kate, faithful, steady Kate, had stolen from the man she loved.

She scrambled to her feet and began to pace. “I’ve got to go, Adam. I’ve got to straighten all this out—”

“No.”

“Yes, I—” God, why couldn’t she think clearly? He was on his feet and gathering her into his arms.

“Stay with me.”

“I can’t, not tonight, but—”

“Not tonight,” he whispered against her hair. “Stay with me forever.”

His words stopped her protests. “I—I don’t understand.”

“Sure you do, Marnie. Marry me.”

Then she understood. His desperation. His guilt. He felt responsible for her because Victor had disowned her. It was sweet and noble, but not a gesture of love.

“You don’t mean this,” she said.

“I want you to be my wife, Marnie,” he whispered, and if she hadn’t known better, she almost would have believed him.

The phone rang, and Adam answered. The conversation was long and one-sided. She only heard snatches of it, but guessed that Kent had been apprehended. Lord, what a mess. Her father would be devastated to find that Kent and Kate had betrayed him as well as his only daughter.

Shoving her hands in her pockets, she walked onto the deck and stared at the stars winking high in the sky. She ached inside, ached from the pain of losing her father and worse yet, ached with the thought that she was losing Adam.

Oh, yes, he’d proposed, but out of a sense of duty. Never once had he said he loved her.

She heard the sliding glass door open. “It’s over,” he said, coming up behind her and standing so close she could almost feel him. But he didn’t touch her. “Kent’s confessed to everything and Kate’s in custody.”

“And Dad?”

“He’s at police headquarters.”

“He must be destroyed.”

“Your father has a way of bouncing back.”

Marnie curled her fingers over the rail. “Not this time,” she whispered, then turned, feeling the warmth of Adam’s arms surround her. He kissed her so gently she thought her heart would break. She drowned herself in the smell and feel and taste of him for this one last night. Tomorrow they would both have to deal with reality and the very genuine probability that they’d never see each other again.

“It’s not easy for me to say I was wrong,” Victor allowed, standing near the windows in his office, his hands clasped behind his back. “But I was, and I guess an apology is in order. Adam, Marnie…I’m sorry.”

They were standing in his office together because they’d both been summoned. Adam’s countenance was grim, and he stared at Victor long and hard. Marnie was nervous. Though her spine was stiff, her chin lifted defiantly, her heart screamed forgiveness. Victor was her father.

“I misjudged you, Adam. Listened to the wrong people and I…well, I was convinced that you were a traitor to the company.” Victor took in a long breath. “To that end, I did you a horrible disservice and I intend to make a public statement to that effect. And, if you want it, I’d be glad to offer you a job, a full vice presidency with stock options. If you’ll consider it.”

“Never.”

Victor clamped his mouth shut and nodded stiffly. “You could name your price.”

“My price would be too high, Victor,” Adam said with quiet authority. “I’d want it all. Including your daughter.”

Marnie had to brace herself against the desk for support.
Don’t do this,
she thought,
not now.
“No, Adam, I don’t think you understand,” she said trying to place a hand on his arm. He shook it off.

“I just don’t trust anyone who would throw his only daughter out of his life.”

Victor sucked in his breath. Marnie knew this was difficult for her father. The past few days, with the arrest of Kent and Kate, along with a few other people who had known about the embezzlement, had been hard on Victor. His usually firm face was lined, his eyes bagged. He reached across his desk and grabbed his pipe, which he stuffed with tobacco.

As he lit his pipe, he stared through the smoke at his only daughter. Marnie felt her heartstrings tug.