Secret Nights at Nine Oaks (10 page)

“You have to testify.”

“No, I don't.”

“Phoebe, he committed a crime against you, you have to put him away.”

“The evidence speaks for itself.”

“But your testimony could clinch it.”

“I can't,” she cried.

Cain's heart softened, and he went to her, kneeling beside the chair, and forcing her to look at him.

“You're scared.”

“I can't look at him, I can't. He hurt me, he touched me. And I know he'll have the best lawyers and money, and get off. I'm nobody.”

“No, you're not. You can do this.”

She shook her head, and Cain saw her recovery in the last weeks crumbling. “You can't hide from it. You'll never be safe if you don't put him away.” He swallowed hard. “And then you'll turn into me.”

She met his gaze. “That's not so bad.”

“Yes, it is.” His expression darkened. “And I won't allow it.”

“And just how will you do that?”

“I'll go with you.”

Her eyes flared wide. “What?”

Cain took a deep breath before he said, “I'll escort you to the trial and stay right beside you.”

She was silent for a moment as his words hit her. He'd leave Nine Oaks? He'd break a five-year seclusion for her? “Do you realize what your appearance in public will do? It will cause more stir than the trial.”

“Then attention will be on me and not you, right?”

“Why? Why would you do this?”

“I want you to feel safe again, Phoebe, and if you don't go and tell the jury what he did to you, then he could walk away and do the same thing to another woman.” Or to her again, he thought, but knew he'd never let that happen.

“Cain.” Tears slid down her cheek.

“I'll be with you, baby. I swear, I'll protect you.”

She fell into his arms, clinging tightly, touched beyond thought, beyond breathing. Over her shoulder Cain squeezed his eyes shut, realizing he wanted Phoebe's happiness more than he did his own.

W
hen Cain Blackmon stepped back into the real world, he did it with style, Phoebe thought. A chopper had landed on the Nine Oaks front lawn, and flew them to the airport where they boarded a Gulf-stream jet and headed toward California for the trial.

“You're gawking,” he said with a gentle smile.

She kept looking around the lush cabin. “You've never used this, have you?”

“Suzannah does, and my other employees. But no, I haven't.”

But he was using it for her.

The impact of what he was doing hit her all over
again. He left five years of seclusion behind to be with her now. To shield her. And if she loved him before, she loved him more today. He met her gaze, a tiny frown knitting his brow and she wondered if he knew she'd fallen in love with him.

“I hate flying by the way.”

“You've done admirably well considering we're landing.”

The instant they were out of the jet, they were besieged.

“Word's out you're here,” she said and he simply smiled tenderly down at her and guided her to the limousine. She saw another side of him, a man who commanded the world around him, and expected to be obeyed. Cameras flashed, people shouted, and yet she felt safe and guarded in a mad crowd of onlookers. Cain said nothing, refusing to respond to a single question even when they were offensive and cruel. His arm around her was a comforting shelter as he escorted her into the courthouse and to her lawyers.

She stilled when she saw Kreeg enter, and that smug smile of his fell when his gaze landed on Cain. He went pale and turned to his attorneys, whispering furiously.

Phoebe looked up at Cain. His expression was murderous as he stared at Kreeg. She nudged him and when he met her gaze, the look evaporated, replaced by a smile.

Bending to kiss her cheek, he whispered, “Be brave. I'm right here. He can't touch you anymore.”

The trial proceeded, evidence produced and debated. The lawyers Cain hired were magnificent, and the private detective shed light on Kreeg's past. This wasn't the first time he'd tormented a woman, and a parade of victims on the stand confirmed it. Phoebe's stomach clenched when she had to take the stand, yet she kept her gaze on Cain. He was her anchor, and she gathered strength from him, his encouraging smile, and when Kreeg's lawyers tried to destroy her, they failed.

Then the jury was sequestered. Cain had taken a suite in a nearby hotel and posted guards around the clock to keep the press and the curious away. Watching him take control of the situation, Phoebe didn't say much. She was grateful for his strength.

“Phoebe, you should rest.”

She looked up from her perch on the sofa. “I want it to be over.”

“It will be.” He looked at his watch.

“What's taking so long? It's been a while,” she said.

“No, it hasn't. They are deciding a man's future. I'm just wondering where dinner is.”

That made her smile, and the corners of his mouth lifted in tandem. He came to sit down beside her.

“Thank you,” she said.

“You're welcome.”

“It wasn't so hard, was it?”

He thought for a second. “I didn't seclude myself because of the press and nosy people, Phoebe. I secluded myself because I didn't want to be near anyone and inflict my moods on them.”

“Well, I've seen some of those moods. They aren't so bad.”

He eyed her, knowing the truth.

“Well, you've been wonderful to me,” she said.

He smirked to himself. “Yes well, you're hard to resist and difficult to keep away.”

“Are you saying I'm pushy?”

“Oh hell, yes.”

She laughed and Cain grinned. “Admit it, you've had fun,” she said.

“Nah, you'll get an ego.”

She gave him a playful shove and unwound her body from the tight curl in the corner of the sofa. “You know the ugly parts of my life, Cain. When will you tell me yours?”

Cain leaned forward and clasped his hands, staring at them. “Phoebe, please understand.” Cain could feel the battle boiling inside him, sudden and harsh at the first thought of his crime. The power of guilt was an ugly creature and it had badgered him for years.

“Cain, please.”

He didn't answer, and Phoebe could see the emotion simmering under his expression.

“I can't understand any of it, if I don't know the truth.”

He rounded on her, his expression contorted in guilt. “You want the truth? Are you sure?”

“Yes, I do.”

“I killed my wife, Phoebe. Is that truth enough?”

She reared back. “What? No, that can't be true.”

“I let her go out on a boat when I knew she wasn't skilled enough to sail!” He started to stand.

Phoebe pushed him back down. “Whoa, wait a second.” She touched his face, making him look at her and his dark, tortured stare broke her heart. “Take a breath.”

He did, pushing his fingers through his hair and knowing it was now or never. Cain realized he was simply postponing the inevitable, but he didn't want to lose her now.

“I told you I married her because she carried my child. I didn't love her and I never claimed to love her. She was a weekend in my life that ruined both our lives.”

“But she loved you, didn't she?”

“Yes. God, it killed me to see it in her eyes all the time. When she lost the child, I tried to make it work.
But we were strangers in the same house. She wanted me to love her and I couldn't.” He looked at Phoebe. “I tried, but it wasn't there.” Not like it is for you, he thought, and looked away. “And after a couple of months, she knew it never would be. Her feelings turned to hate and anger, and we fought over everything. I talked to my lawyer about filing for divorce. I meant to tell her that night, but she learned it by eavesdropping. We had a terrible fight, said things to each other that were cruel.”

“How did she die on the boat?”

“After the fight, she went outside. I knew she was on the property from the cameras and staff. I thought she'd cool off and we could at least part like adults, be civil. She went off like that a lot when we'd argue, but she was gone a long time. So I went to look for her. She was in the boat, just sitting in it. It was tied to the dock and she shouted at me to leave her alone.”

Cain rubbed his mouth, then clasped his hands again. He'd never let himself think of that night for long, but now it unfolded in his mind.

“I didn't think she'd take the boat out. She wasn't a skilled sailor, and she knew it!”

“Was there a storm or something? The river is wide, but it's pretty calm.”

“No, not at first. The sun was setting and it started to rain, but nothing bad. When she didn't come back
near sundown, I went looking again. That's when I realized she'd taken the boat out.” He glanced at her. “It wasn't the first time she did something like that to get my attention. So I called the sea rescue, and went looking for her in the speedboat. But even the sea rescue couldn't spot the boat with floodlights. She just vanished.” He flopped back into the cushions. “I'd hoped she drew in downriver somewhere south.”

“She didn't.”

He shook his head. “The rain worsened. I didn't come in, just drifted up and down the shore. I stayed out there all night and in the morning, I found the boat. Then her.”

Phoebe could only imagine what he'd felt at that moment, and knew without asking he'd carried that tortured reminder with him ever since.

“Cain, she was skilled enough to bring it in, wasn't she?”

“I don't know.” He pushed off the sofa and paced. “No, I know she wasn't. I let her go out on that boat and she died.”

“Oh my God. You blame yourself for her death?”

His gaze slammed into hers. “I killed her! I could have stopped her, carried her back into the house, anything to keep her from sailing. I destroyed her, Phoebe. I couldn't love her and it destroyed her.”

“Wait a minute, Lily was a grown woman, and she knew her skill level.” She stood before him, gripping his arms, wanting him to hear her so badly. “
She
knew she couldn't sail and yet she did. In a storm. It was all intentional. She took that boat out to kill herself!”

Cain shook his head. “Don't you think I want to believe that? She said, ‘I'll see you later, I'll come in a minute.' She didn't mean to…”

“Die?”

“Yes. What did the coroner say?”

“No injuries, a drowning.”

“She could swim?”

“Yes.”

“Then she didn't want to.”

“I should have forced her inside. I should have made her come back.”

“You should have loved her, isn't that what you're saying?”

He crumpled before her eyes, his shoulders drooping, his head bowing.

“Oh, Cain.” She brushed her mouth over his, her throat going tight. “Oh honey, you can't force love when it's not there.”

He lifted his gaze to her.

“There's no crime in not loving her. There is when you let it keep
you
from loving.”

His features tightened, and he bent, calling her name. Before their lips touched, the phone rang.

Cain straightened, and went to answer it.

Phoebe hugged herself, watching his expression. He gave nothing away as he hung up. “The jury is in,” he said. “Let's go.”

 

Cain whisked her away from the courthouse so fast she didn't have time to think about anything but that she was free, and Kreeg was behind bars for a very long time.

On the plane Cain didn't talk, and barely looked at her. It hurt that he wouldn't look at her, yet Phoebe left him to his thoughts. She could see his torment, as if he was reliving his wife's death. When the plane touched down, he looked up as if just realizing he'd been silent for so long. He apologized and within an hour, she was walking back into Nine Oaks.

On the stairs, she looked down at him. “Cain.”

“I'll see you in the morning.”

Phoebe's heart broke. He didn't have to say it. He was closing himself off. Nothing she'd said had made a difference, and he wasn't letting her share his burden. Now he was letting her go.

“I can't stay here anymore.”

He jerked a look up at her. “Yes, you can go home now. You're safe.”

“Oh Cain. This is my home.” His features went taut. “Don't you know? You have my heart.” Her voice broke. “My very soul. And that will never change, but I can't stay with a man who is too trapped in useless guilt to see a future.”

His features tightened. “Phoebe, please.”

“No, Cain, it doesn't have to be this way. Open your eyes! You didn't do anything wrong! Except give a ghost power over you.”

His eyes narrowed, and yet Phoebe simply sighed and turned away. She loved him. She'd always loved him, she realized. And now, she would lose him to a woman who'd been dead for five years.

 

She came to him like soft fragrance on the breeze, stirring his senses, shifting the air surrounding him.

Cain felt her touch before he heard her whisper his name. He shifted on the bed and saw an image that would stay with him for a lifetime—Phoebe, naked and ethereal, sliding onto his bed and into his arms.

Cain didn't think, didn't question, and when she tipped her head back, meeting his gaze, touching his face, she gave no answers. Then he kissed her, a deep slow kiss of love and passion. The fast heat and demand they'd felt before was tamed. Now the need to show and revere overtook him. In the back of his
mind, Cain knew this would be the last time he touched Phoebe.

His patience showed in his touch, in the way he stirred her body. Phoebe took what she wanted for herself, sliding down his body to pleasure him like no other. Cain groaned and yanked her up to him, a look full of sensual promise lighting her heart. He tasted her body, claimed it as he had never done before, with complete possession, taking part of her soul with every kiss.

His hands played over her skin, memorizing her shape, his mouth drawing on her nipples, teeth scraping erotically over the swells of her breasts and lower. Then he spread her wide, and gripped her hips, lifting her to his mouth.

He laved at her center, making her cry out softly, making her squirm for more. Her beauty enthralled him, burned into his mind and still, he tasted her, toyed with her pleasure. It was his, he owned it, he wanted no man to do this to her. Ever. She was his, he thought. No matter what he felt or said, Phoebe was his.

And he showed her, bringing her to peak after peak, skillfully letting her dangle on the edge, then releasing her and covering her body with his.

She spread herself for him and Cain slid smoothly inside her warm wet center. The heat of her nearly
undid him and he moved slowly, his tempo measured, her desire blossoming. He wanted to savor each sensation, the womanly muscles gripping and flexing on him, the short gasps tumbling from her lips. He pushed and withdrew, watching her eyes flare, her heart in her beautiful face.

Cain's throat locked and he could barely breathe, knowing this was the last time, and knowing he would die without her in his life.

He groaned her name as he kissed her, quickening, and she clung to him, her limbs wrapped tightly. The spiral of heat climbed as their bodies took control in a powerful rush to find the summit together.

Then it came, a swell of throbbing skin and heated kisses. His tongue plunged into her mouth as his body thrust hard into her. She whispered his name, he called hers and threw his head back as the tight pulse of their climax exploded and fused between them.

The moment suspended, heartbeats matched, passion spreading out like ribbons to tie them together. Cain felt everything with an odd clarity and when he looked down at her, she was smiling, her teary eyes so somber and heartbreaking. Cain felt his heart shatter.