Silver Sparks (14 page)

Amber didn’t need encouragement. She dropped the backpack behind the counter and huddled over the display case with Maggie, trying on rings set with everything from common quartz to diamonds. Maggie understood her fascination, having done the same thing herself when she first opened Fortune’s Folly. Lifting out a whole tray, she let Amber try each one, admiring the results along with her as Cal watched, bemused.

Amber stretched her hand out in front of her, wiggling her fingers under the strong overhead lights. Colored fire flashed from four different rings. “Wicked sparkle,” she approved. “Got anything like this in black?”

“I have onyx, but you won’t get the sparkle.” She passed her another ring.

Amber took one off and slid the new one on, holding her hand out. “Mad fresh!”

Smiling, Maggie glanced at Cal to see what he thought of his sister’s assessment.

He was no longer watching them. Gray eyes focused on the front window, intent on something outside. As she watched, his expression changed to concern, then alarm. A shiver slid down her spine—Cal didn’t worry without reason. She turned to see what he was looking at, but barely had time for a glance. He was suddenly in motion, rushing toward them, yelling, “Get down!”

Amber looked up, confused. Maggie had a brief glimpse of headlights before Cal threw himself on top of them, dragging them down to the floor behind the display counter. Even as she ducked, her mind worked to make sense of what she’d seen. Two headlights. Headlights were normal; all the cars had their lights on in the gloom of the early-evening snowstorm. But the lights that had pinned her in their bright glare had been pointing right at her. That wasn’t possible. Before she could figure it out, the world exploded with a ground-shaking crash.

A deafening roar filled her ears. Shattered glass rang as it flew into the display case and clattered against stone fossils. A blast of cold air swirled in, chilling her even as she huddled beneath the shelter of Cal’s body. He pulled them close and held on until the world stopped shaking and glass stopped raining down. The roaring went on and on, filling her ears, as if a beast had broken down the walls and stood inside the store, bellowing its anger.

Cal lifted his head. Maggie wiggled out from under him, standing cautiously.

Cold air and snowflakes hit her face. The front window was gone.

The store lay open to the snowy sidewalk and the cars that had stopped in the street. She could barely see them. The view was blocked by a huge black truck with a snow blade that sat half in and half out of her store. Its diesel engine roared as if the accelerator was stuck, while steam hissed from beneath the hood. The eight-foot blade hovered over shards of pottery, dripping slush. One front wheel spun, held aloft by the low brick wall that had caught the undercarriage of the truck just in front of the rear axle. Behind it, the double wheels of the dually pickup blocked the sidewalk.

Maggie felt dizzy. How many things could go wrong in one day? She wanted to believe it was a freak accident, but knew better. Small hairs rose along the back of her neck.

As she watched, Cal picked his way past bricks and glass to yank open the driver’s door. He reached inside past the white mass of the inflated air bag, and suddenly the store went quiet as the engine fell dead. Maggie became aware of people yelling in the street. A man stepped right through the missing front window to help Cal as he pulled the dazed driver from the cab of the truck.

Beside her, Amber stood. Glass crunched beneath her feet. “Shit,” she breathed.

Maggie didn’t have any better words for it, so she just nodded.

They both stared for several seconds as people ran out of stores and gathered to gape on the sidewalk outside Fortune’s Folly. A couple more used the front door to come inside.

“Want me to gather up the jewelry?”

Maggie looked down. The display case was cracked, and the one next to it was broken wide open. She snapped out of her daze and threw Amber a surprised, grateful look. “I’d really appreciate that.” So would her insurance company, no doubt. “Just grab one of those cardboard boxes under the counter. I’ll help in a minute—I want to see how the driver is.”

He looked fine, actually, sitting on her glass-covered floor talking to Cal. What she really wanted to know was how it had happened.

Cal squatted in front of him, questioning him about injuries.

The man shook his head. “No, no, I’m fine. Just stunned by that air bag. Damn thing packs a punch.” He rubbed gingerly at his bearded cheek where reddened skin showed through beneath the short hairs. A split on his lower lip was already puffing up from what appeared to be a sudden impact with his own incisors, and blood trickled from his nose.

He looked up at Maggie, taking in her skirt and heels. “You the owner?”

She nodded, hugging herself against the cold air.

“I’m really sorry about this. I guess I hit a patch of ice, ’cause the damn truck wouldn’t stop. Skidded right across the other lane and over the sidewalk. I’m just glad no one was walking by at the time.”

“So am I,” she assured him.

He looked around, as if noticing the damage for the first time. His eyes widened with shock at the magnitude of what he’d done. “I got insurance,” he told her.

“You must have been going pretty fast,” Cal said.

“Twenty-five, that’s the speed limit,” the guy said, looking Cal directly in the eye. “But I hit that ice and, man, the son of a bitch just flew. Couldn’t stop it. You know how it is with those icy patches.”

“Yeah, I do.” Cal stood. Someone else knelt in front of the man, asking if he was sure he was okay, and the driver began repeating his story. In the distance, Maggie heard sirens approaching.

Cal grabbed her elbow and pulled her aside. He took a long look at her, forehead creased with concern. “How are you? Are you okay?”

She nodded. Words seemed too difficult to form.

“Amber?”

Another nod. “She’s fine.”

He glanced at Amber, on her knees behind the counter, picking up handfuls of jewelry, then back at Maggie. The lines on his forehead didn’t ease. She wondered if he was even aware that he rubbed her arm and back as they stood there, as if reassuring himself that she was all in one piece. It reassured
her,
anyway, and she didn’t want him to stop.

“He’s lying,” he finally said in a low voice.

“What?” The ominous prickling touched her neck hairs again.

“The driver. He never tried to stop. I watched him turn off Tannery onto Division and accelerate. He never straightened out, just headed at an angle across the other lane and straight for the front of the store. He had to have floored it.”

She stared at the driver, who was repeating his story to the owner of Carly’s Café, then back at Cal. “You’re sure he did it on purpose?”

He nodded.

She didn’t question it, since it only confirmed what she’d felt in her gut. But it didn’t make sense. “I don’t even know that guy.”

“I wouldn’t expect you to.” Cal’s eyes held hers. “How long do you figure before you can open the store again?”

The question seemed like an abrupt segue, but she tried to answer. She looked at the truck sitting in her display window and the shattered glass and merchandise all over the front of the store. Insurance claim, cleanup, repairs, ordering new merchandise . . . She swallowed her dismay. “Best scenario, several weeks.”

“Know anyone who might be happy about that?” He nodded as she reached the obvious conclusion. “Exactly. What do you want to bet I find a connection between that driver and the De Lucas?”

Chapter
Eight

H
e didn’t want to leave her alone. Who knew what could happen? As cautious as he’d been, he hadn’t anticipated a truck plowing into her store. What if she’d been near the front window instead of behind the display case? Sweat beaded his forehead just thinking about it.

He looked around Maggie’s small living room again, as if a De Luca bodyguard might be crouched behind the wingback chair, just waiting for him to leave.

“You checked the whole house. I’ll be fine, Cal.”

Amber sat on the small couch, watching the two of them, waiting to see how he’d handle it. She’d been watching them all evening, as if she was trying to figure out their relationship. Well, good luck, kid. So was he.

“I still don’t like the idea of leaving you here alone,” he told Maggie.

“I’m hardly alone. We must have had at least ten vehicles following us up here. They’re probably setting up TV cameras in my front yard as we speak, hoping I’ll put on my boots and parka and step outside for a late-night interview.”

Ten was an exaggeration, since they’d lost a few vans on the hilly streets that led to her house. They’d make it eventually, though.

He scowled. “Reporters aren’t going to protect you, Maggie. They’d be overjoyed to film an attack on you, but they aren’t here to stop one.”

They’d been over it before, so she just sighed. “Exactly what is it you think might happen?”

“I don’t know.” He ran a hand through his hair in frustration. “That’s what worries me. What will they try next? This has gone way beyond what I’d expect in response to a tabloid story.”

She flopped into a chair. “Well, I agree with you there. I had the same thought when I talked to that lawyer, Jameson. How can they be this upset over one little scuffle in a bar? In fact, I’ll bet you anything the show’s ratings go up because of all the publicity. I even had to let him know that you had nothing to do with it, because he specifically mentioned you, too.” She laid her head back wearily and closed her eyes.

An icy feeling crept over him, freezing him in place. “He mentioned me?”

She dismissed it with a tired wave. “You know, as my supposed boyfriend. As in, ‘you and your boyfriend’ have to stop harassing the De Lucas.”

“Oh, shit,” Cal groaned.

She cracked her eyelids. “What?”

“They know. They must have found out I’m a cop,” he explained.

She sat up, looking confused. “How do you figure?”

“The tabloids just tagged me as your boyfriend, which makes me pretty inconsequential. The De Lucas don’t care what your boyfriend does. They
do
care about some cop sniffing around. Now all their extreme measures make sense. This isn’t about your fight with Rafe, Maggie. Not anymore. It’s about you and me asking questions about Rachel Anders and Tara Kolinowski. They don’t like it, and they just told us to stop.”

Her mouth dropped open. “Oh, crap.”

Amber sat up straighter. “Who are those girls? What have you two been doing?”

Her sharp look of interest sent another surge of ice water washing through him. Shit, shit, shit! He’d drawn the attention of the De Lucas just when his little sister happened to blow into town. His only surviving little sister. No matter what, he had to keep them unaware of her presence in Barringer’s Pass.

“Rachel and Tara are two women who disappeared from this area. The local police never looked at Rafe as a suspect, but my guess is that one or both met the same fate as Julie.”

She jumped to her feet. “Can you prove it? Can we nail his ass?”

“Not yet.” He looked at Maggie. “But I’d say we’re on the right track if the De Lucas want us to back off.”

“Good!” Amber looked ready to spring into action. “Let’s do more of whatever it is you’ve been doing. How can I help?”

“You can’t.” He could tell she didn’t like his tone, and he couldn’t care less. “You aren’t involved, Amber, and you’re not going to get involved.”

She glared. “I sure as hell am involved. Julie was my sister. If that putrid little fucker killed her, I have the right to personally kick his balls up his ass.”

He didn’t react to her language. Some things transcended the rules of propriety, and he figured having your sister murdered was one of them. “I understand how you feel, Amber, and I don’t blame you. But the De Lucas are dangerous.”

“I don’t care!”

God, couldn’t he have one woman in his life who was meek and obedient for a change?

He put his hands on Amber’s shoulders, getting in her face. “Amber, listen to me. This is serious. You saw what happened to Maggie’s store tonight. Do you realize how it might have turned out if any one of us had been closer to the window?” He gave her a moment to think about mangled limbs and bleeding bodies. Her mouth set in a stubborn line as she stared back, unconvinced.

He tried again. “That wasn’t even the first event. Someone jumped Maggie yesterday morning right outside that front door, and nearly choked her to death. He even mimicked cutting her throat.”

The throat-cutting did it. Amber’s eyes darted to Maggie, then back to his. She swallowed. “But if I helped . . .”

“Amber, they’ll use you against me. They’ll target you in order to get me to back off. Trust me on this. I want to get him, too, but I don’t want anyone hurt in the process.”

Amber looked pained, the first crack he’d seen in her tough armor. “She was my sister,” she repeated in a tight voice that was little more than a whisper.

“And you’re
my
sister,” he told her. “I can’t lose you, too, and I don’t want to have to worry about them going after you. Let me handle this.”

He saw tears pool in her eyes. Saw her fight them back, determined to stay strong. That got to him, and he pulled her into a hug, wrapping his arms around her. For a second she stiffened, then she buried her face in his shirt and sniffled once as he stroked the bright blue streaks in her hair.

He’d give anything if he could make her world easier. He couldn’t give her back her sister, or give her a mother who put her child before her husband of the moment. But he could at least give her a brother who cared, and put the bastard who’d killed her sister in prison where he belonged.

He looked up and saw Maggie watching them with an expression he couldn’t read. She had to understand, though—she was also trying to shield a sister from the De Lucas. He envied the close relationship she had with Zoe and Sophie, and wondered wistfully if it was too late to find that with his own sister.

He set Amber back with a last stroke down her hair. Blue? He might get to know his sister better, but he feared he’d never understand her.

Maggie spoke up. “You’d better get out of here with Amber before the rest of the news crews get here and start asking who she is. They didn’t see her come in, but now they’re parked outside. They’ll see her when you leave.”

He couldn’t argue with her if she was going to be careful and sensible. “I wish you’d come with us. You don’t need to stay here.”

“It’s my house, and unless the De Lucas drive a truck through the front window, I’m staying.” She walked to the closet and pulled out a parka with a fur-trimmed hood. “Here, Amber. Put this on. They won’t be able to recognize you.”

Leaving her with no one to see if the De Lucas’ thugs came creeping around her bushes again. “You have dead bolts—use them,” Cal told her sternly. “And promise me you won’t open the door or go outside for any reason until I come get you tomorrow morning.”

“You don’t have to—”

“Promise, Maggie. I mean it. Not even if Publishers Clearing House is standing on the porch with balloons and a huge check.”

“I’m taking the check.”

She wasn’t taking it seriously enough, but it was the best he was going to get. Muttering to himself about being cursed with stubborn women, he grabbed Amber’s backpack and opened the front door.

Then looked back at Maggie.

Oh, hell. Let Amber wonder. In three quick strides, he went back and pulled Maggie against him, kissing her with all the passion he could manage with his sister watching. He’d probably get peppered with questions all the way to his cabin, but it was worth it just to see the warm flush that heated Maggie’s cheeks.

“’Night,” he said quietly.

“Um, yeah.”

He smiled. Damn, he loved catching Maggie off-guard. She could use a bit more of that in her life.

He figured he was the perfect man for the job.

Maggie discovered that nothing dislodged reporters when they smelled a story. When temperatures dropped, they simply left their trucks running all night and kept the heaters on. They were still in front of her house in the morning when Cal showed up, ramming his truck through the melting snow in her driveway. She opened the door, stepping onto the porch to enjoy the return of warm weather, then flinched at the barrage of questions the reporters yelled from the street.

“Cal, how do you know Maggie? Is it true she left you for Rafe? Are you two engaged? There’s Maggie! Maggie, what did you think of Rafe’s comment—”

The second Cal was over the threshold she slammed the door, reveling in the silence. “Where’s Amber?”

“I left her at my place.” They were alone together, exactly as they were before Amber showed up. She already knew there would be no such thing as mild flirting if she got close to Cal.

She started for the kitchen but he grabbed her hand, bringing her up short. “Listen, Maggie, something came up. I don’t want to leave you alone, but Tara Kolinowski’s parents agreed to meet with me this afternoon if I can get to Denver.”

“I can’t go to Denver. I have a million things to take care of at the store.”

“I know.”

She smiled at the worried creases on his forehead. “Cal, I’ll be fine. Contractors and insurance people will be in and out of Fortune’s Folly all day. Plus, you can leave Amber with me and you won’t have to worry about either one of us.”

He gave her a rueful smile. “Good, because she refused to go to Denver with me. Said she was just there yesterday. And I think she’s already had enough of trees and rocks, which is all the Lost Canyon Lodge has to offer.” He frowned. “She resents me for not being in their lives, and I can’t blame her. I think she’s decided to be opposed to anything I want to do to keep her safe.”

“Teenagers. Aren’t they great?”

He snorted. “More like obstinate. I swear it’s easier to deal with gang members and street thugs than with Amber.”

“You mean when you have a badge and a gun to back you up?” At his look of interest, she wagged her finger at him. “Unh-uh. If I can’t shoot paparazzi, you can’t shoot Amber. Just learn to deal with the frustration.”

“Funny you should mention that.” The gleam that lit his eyes wasn’t even close to funny. “I’ve recently thought of a good way to deal with my frustrations.”

She’d forgotten he was holding her hand until he tugged her closer. Her forehead nearly bumped into his chin and she had to tilt her head back to look into his eyes. Up close they were smoky gray, with a lazy sexuality that knocked the breath out of her. It was hard to get it back when his fingers brushed beneath her hair, sending shivers all the way down her back.

While she concentrated on remembering how to breathe, he brushed his lips against her ear, then her cheek, then took her mouth in a long, deep kiss that left her heart racing and her pulse hammering in her ears. “I think my frustrations are beginning to go away,” he murmured.

She inhaled deeply, smelling a hint of shaving lotion. “I think you’re creating whole new ones,” she told him, unable to resist burying her nose against his neck to enjoy the scent.

“Don’t worry, I know how to relieve them.”

She was sure he’d be very good at relieving them. Then afterward he’d remember how much she irritated him, and she’d remember that she no longer jumped into bed with guys she barely knew, and they’d both regret the whole thing. “You don’t like me,” she reminded him. “I make you crazy.”

“I like you just fine. In fact, I like you a lot. It’s your reckless ideas that make me crazy.”

“Then you might not like what I have to tell you.”

He stopped the nibbling that was sending delicious tingles down her neck, sighed, and laid his forehead against hers. “You’ve done something else?”

“Don’t be so pessimistic. This time I waited to run it by you.”

He raised his head. “Really? I’m honored.”

She dove into her explanation. “I’m sure Rafe and his family think they’ve finally shut me up for good. They made sure I lost business, then wrecked my store on top of it.”

He gave her a wary look. “What, that’s not enough for you?”

“It’s more than enough. It’s overkill, which might work in my favor. The De Lucas are arrogant. A lot of people in this town don’t like them for that.”

“And they love the Larkins?”

“No,” she admitted. “But people do sympathize with the underdog. And in this case, that’s me.”

“So you want sympathy?”

“No, I want to save Fortune’s Folly! Rafe and his family made sure I lost a ton of business from canceled orders, and with the store closed for repairs I’m going to lose even more. But maybe if people know what they did, I could entice others to place orders with me simply to show the De Lucas that they can’t willfully destroy the people and businesses they don’t like.”