Stolen Seduction (19 page)

James looked over to where Allie was still quietly talking to Hailey. “My daughter the cop won’t be

so thrilled with that decision. Those two are thick as thieves.”

“She’ll get over it,” he said, watching Hailey and feeling an odd sort of tenderness in his chest. “I’m

not going to let anything happen to that thief.”

A slow smile spread across James’s face as he pushed to stand. “Good to hear. She needs someone

watching out for her, whether she thinks so or not.”

“One question,” Shane asked when James reached for his bag from the floor.

“Yes?”

“How does a coroner manage to have so many medical supplies on hand?”

“He volunteers,” Allie said from across the room.

At Shane’s raised brow, James lifted his bag slightly. “It’s something I’ve done for a number of

years. I help out at a low-income clinic, make house calls for some of the elderly down here who

can’t make it to their regular appointments. I don’t mind working on the dead, just so long as I get

to practice on the living now and then.” He winked at Shane. “You’re about Matt’s height and size,

one of the guys on staff here. He usually leaves some extra clothes in his locker. Let me go see what

I can find.”

Practice on the living.

Shane watched James walk away, then looked over at Hailey, her blonde hair spilling over the pillow Allie had brought for her, her eyes sliding closed as she listened to her friend talk. In this case,

James hadn’t just practiced. He’d saved a life.

A life Shane was even more resolute about saving himself.

Eleanor turned off the engine of her Mercedes and glowered toward the house. Why Graham insisted on living like a backwater redneck when he had millions in the bank, she’d never understand.

She pushed the door open, then frowned as she slid her Christian Lacroix pumps onto the gravel

drive thick with weeds. Morning dew coated the wisps of grass and flowers she didn’t have any clue

how to name and couldn’t care less about. Graham, of course, would know each and every bloody

thorn on the property.

She stumbled twice on the uneven rocks and was nearly ready to turn around and head back to civilization when she heard a voice from the shadows of the front porch that stopped her cold.

“Been a while since you’ve been all the way out here.”

Her pulse jumped, even though she’d prepared herself. It had been a long time. An even longer time

since she’d been alone with her brother-in-law.

She lifted her chin. “Hello, Graham.”

He didn’t rise from the red metal chair, only eyed her over his mug of coffee. Or whiskey. Or whatever it was he drank at nine A.M. these days. “Eleanor.”

There’d been a time he’d called her Ellie. But that had been before. When she’d been young. And

not nearly as smart as she was now.

Ignoring the memories, she headed up the three wooden steps to stand before him. “We need to

talk.”

“Figured you’d come out here. Also figured there’s nothin’ talking can do to solve any of this.” He

looked down into his mug. “Won’t bring back my boy. Definitely won’t bring back your husband.”

She sensed his deep-seated regret, and was almost suckered in before she remembered whom she

was talking to. “I’m sorry for your loss.”

“Are you?” he asked with narrowed eyes.

“Yes. I came to tell you Madeline’s scheduled the funeral for Friday.”

“Friday. Well, that’s not a surprise, now is it? But that’s not the real reason you’re here.”

Her stomach lurched, but she worked to look calm. He may appear to be a country bumpkin, but

Graham was sharp as a spear. And just as dangerous. She’d learned that long ago.

She chose her words carefully. “We have a deal, and I expect you to live up to it, no matter what’s

happened.”

He set his cup on the aged wicker table to his left with a loud clank and pushed his lanky frame

from the chair. Even at sixty-four, worn and wrinkled and weathered from his years of fun in the

sun, he still intimidated her as much as he had when he’d been wild and reckless and in his prime in

his thirties. Maybe more, because he was the only person left who knew the secret that could ruin

her. “My son is dead, Eleanor.”

“I didn’t kill him.”

“Who did?” When she didn’t answer, his slate gray eyes grew cold. “You and I both know Hailey

didn’t kill Bryan. That girl could no more murder someone than…”

“You?”

His eyes flashed, and that strong, square jaw flexed, just as it had back then. “Yeah. Me.” He tipped

his head to the side. “But then, you know all about that, don’t you?”

Silence fell like heavy smoke between them.

Though her heart was racing and she sensed her blood pressure inching up, she broke the staredown by walking across the porch and leaning one hip against the railing as if she didn’t have a care

in the world. “If Hailey had stayed in Chicago, she wouldn’t be involved now. The police there

would have figured out she didn’t have anything to do with Bryan’s death.”

“You say that like you know it for a fact.”

She pursed her lips. She’d underestimated Hailey one too many times, and she wasn’t about to do

so again. She leveled Graham with a look. “If she comes here looking for your bronze—”

“She already did,” he said smugly. “I gave it to her yesterday.”

Her eyes widened, and she eased away from the railing. “You…what did you tell her?”

“Nothing she didn’t already know. But I was tempted. Oh, was I tempted, Eleanor. Especially after

she informed me of Bryan’s death before you or my dear daughter-in-law could find the time to

bother.”

Betrayal welled in her chest, but she tamped it down and remembered the only way to keep everything in line was to remain calm. This would not blow up in her face. “You’re difficult to get hold of

out here.”

“Not that difficult. You’re here now, aren’t you?”

She bit the inside of her lip. Arguing with him had never been productive. “You realize all you did

was send her on a wild-goose chase, don’t you? This little treasure hunt of Garrett’s won’t pan out.

The company’s lawyers are already looking into a glitch in the will should those stupid statues even

be found. It’s only a matter of time before it’s overturned.”

“But you know they won’t all be found, don’t you?” he asked smugly. “Tell me, Eleanor, did you

send those morons to run her off the road? Jesus, you could have killed her.”

Run her off the road? What was he…?

When he only stared at her, she drew in a breath. In the end she didn’t really care. “I don’t know

what you’re rambling about. You’re getting as senile as your brother. But no, all the sculptures

won’t be found. Hailey will not get this company. And you’d be wise to talk her into turning herself

in if you see her again. She’s only making more trouble by running.”

“Such the devoted mother. Tell me, Eleanor, who’s she making more trouble for, her or you?”

She ignored the taunt. “I want your word you won’t say anything.”

“I gave you my word once before.”

“Before was a long time ago.”

He pursed his lips in disgust. “My word’s the same now as it was then. That hasn’t changed. You

know that more than anyone.”

That tightness returned to her chest. There’d been a time when she’d actually thought she’d loved

him. What a fool she’d been. “I’m not the only one who stands to lose here, Graham. Remember

that.”

His eyes softened. Just a touch. “Why don’t you just tell her the truth? Your father’s dead. Your husband’s dead. No one can control you anymore. No one can hurt you. End this game now.”

“Do you think that’s what this is?” she asked in shock. “A game?”

“I know that’s what it is to you, Eleanor. That’s all Garrett ever was. All I was. You’re not happy unless you’re fighting for something you don’t really want. And when you get it, you throw it away.

Look where you’ve ended up. Look where all three of us ended up.”

A knot formed in her stomach. Graham didn’t know what he was talking about. All she’d ever wanted was for her husband to want her back. Everything she’d done had been with that one goal in

mind. Everything that had happened from the first stemmed from the fact Garrett had wanted something else.

No, this wasn’t a game. This was her life. And it was all she had left. She wasn’t about to let Hailey

ruin it for her now.

She turned before he could stop her, hardened her voice before it could break and headed back to

her Mercedes. “Ten o’clock, Friday. It’ll look bad if you’re not there, so do try to be on time.” She

pulled the car door open and shot him a withering look just before climbing inside. “And find a tie.

It’s the least you can do for your only child.”

He hadn’t slept. Not that he’d expected to.

Shane sat on the side of the bed in James Hargrove’s small Marathon condo and watched Hailey,

asleep on her back, her head tipped to the side, one delicate hand up by her face. Lying there like

that, her golden blonde hair spilling over the pillow, her dark lashes forming spiky crescent shapes

on her creamy skin, she looked more like Cinderella than the hard-as-nails woman he knew could

kick him into the next county if she wanted to.

She’d pushed off the sheet sometime in the night, and thanks to the T-shirt now twisted around her

belly, he knew her red lace panties matched the bra he’d seen yesterday in the morgue. Red that was

going to haunt him the next time he closed his eyes.

Since Hailey had been half out of it with exhaustion when they’d arrived at the apartment last night,

he’d tucked her into the master bed, then settled on the couch. Several times he’d gotten up in the

middle of the night to make sure she was breathing, and each time he’d come into the room to check

on her and she’d made those sexy little mewing sounds in her sleep, a little bit of his self-control

slipped away.

Probably shouldn’t have driven up to Lake Geneva yesterday morning, he thought as he watched

her. Definitely shouldn’t have gotten on that plane. Absolutely, positively shouldn’t be drooling

over her in her underwear right now like a peeping-frickin’-Tom. Especially after everything she’d

been through yesterday. But hell if he’d change any of it if he could.

He waved the takeout coffee under her nose, the one he’d picked up this morning when he’d gone

out to get a new cell and call Tony. Watched as her eyelids fluttered. Her chest rose and fell with her

shallow breathing and her lilac scent wrapped around him like a gentle caress. “Coffee time. Wake

up, Sleeping Beauty.”

She stirred. Grunted and waved a hand through the air. Then flipped to her side away from him.

And try as he might, his eyes ventured down. To skimpy red lace that didn’t cover nearly enough of

one gorgeous ass. What was left of his gray matter turned to gelatin, and he grew hard. Just that

fast.

He jostled her shoulder. “Wake up, Hailey. I brought you a present.”

It was like rousing the dead. When she finally rolled back after several repeated attempts and pried

one eyelid open to peer at him, it was all he could do not to laugh. Her hair now stuck out at odd angles from her thrashing about, and disorientation twisted her features. Her one open eye slid from

his face down to the coffee. Then she groaned and rolled away again. “No more coffee. I had

enough last night to last me a year.”

“James said the caffeine was good for your heart. And considering what you went through yesterday, a little more won’t hurt. Sit up, now.”

She finally acquiesced only because he wouldn’t let her fall back to sleep. Slowly, she reached for

the paper cup and took two big sips. “Stop looking at me like that. It’s bad enough you watched me

puke my guts out yesterday. I don’t need you studying me like a science experiment.”

“You didn’t go on a bender, Hailey. You were poisoned. Big difference.” When she rolled her eyes,

he touched her arm to get her attention. “You scared the hell out of me last night.”

Her cheeks turned the slightest shade of pink before she glanced back down at her hands. And oh,

man. She looked so damn sexy in the morning. All groggy and rumpled. He had an insane urge to

find out if this was how she always woke. Tomorrow morning. And the morning after that. And the

one after that.

“I heard what you and James were discussing. It still doesn’t make any sense to me.”

“It makes a lot of sense. Your uncle wants you gone. If I wasn’t so damn worried about you now, I’d

head over there and beat the truth out of the SOB.”

Her eyes shot to his. “Graham did not have anything to do with this.”

“How do you figure? We ate the same damn things yesterday except for that tea, which he gave

you. Minutes later some crackpot takes a shot at us as we’re driving away. I’d say that’s two for two

that he wants you gone.”

She shook her head in defiance. “I don’t know what was in that tea, but he didn’t purposely set out

to poison me. He couldn’t.”

“How do you know?”

“I just do. As for those two, he didn’t have anything to do with them, either. They had to be following me.”

“How in the hell do you figure that?”

“Because one of them gave me this.” She pointed at the fading bruise on her face. “I recognized his

voice. The other one…”

Almost as if she’d said too much, her mouth snapped shut. And there it was. What he’d suspected

back in the slough. She’d known her attacker and purposely kept quiet.

She doesn’t think you can save her.

Considering the way he’d reacted yesterday, that was probably pretty accurate. She’d been the one