Stolen Seduction (27 page)

yearning. Something a lot like what she’d been feeling most of her adult life. Something…that told

her the answer she gave right now would change everything between them.

“No,” she said softly as she pulled up her courage. “I don’t want to be alone anymore.”

“Neither do I,” he whispered.

He leaned down to brush his mouth over hers. Then wrapped his arms around her and finally, finally kissed her with the sweetest mouth she’d ever tasted.

Hailey couldn’t sleep.

She threw back the covers on the guest bed in Rafe and Lisa’s monster house and pulled on her

clothes. The letter she and Shane had found in Teresa’s jewelry box hadn’t answered any of her

questions. It was just more garbled clues about keys and locked treasures, and at the moment she

was so frustrated with her father and everything else, she couldn’t stay still.

She pulled open the door as quietly as she could and tiptoed down the old hardwood floors until she

reached the stairs. The top step creaked, and she paused, hoping she wasn’t waking the entire house.

The old plantation-style colonial was way bigger than either Rafe or Lisa needed, but since they

were still in the process of getting the San Juan branch of Odyssey up and running, they were using

some rooms for storage. They’d also moved Teresa here from the small bungalow Rafe had bought

for her in the city, and the fact she wasn’t here left a giant void in the house that Hailey could feel

all the way into her bones.

Tears pushed at her eyes again at the thought of Teresa, but she forced them back and continued

down the stairs. She’d mourn later. After she figured out her father’s blasted riddle and cleared her

name. Until then, she couldn’t let herself get sucked down into the pain. Teresa would never have

wanted that for her anyway.

The oversize kitchen was dark when she stepped into the room. She felt for the light switch.

“Carajo,“ Rafe exclaimed as the fluorescent bulb above popped on. “Have some mercy here.”

Hailey jumped, looked toward the old butcher-block table where he was sitting with a coffee cup in

front of him, rubbing his eyes. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know anyone was in here. I’ll turn the light off.”

“Don’t bother now. You already blinded me.”

Though his snarky comeback shouldn’t have made her smile, it did. Because this, at least, was normal.

“There’s coffee if you want it,” he mumbled, still rubbing his eyes.

Since it was two A.M., and she knew she wasn’t getting any more sleep, she figured Why not?

“Thanks.”

She found a mug in the cupboard and poured herself a cup, then came back to the table to sit beside

him. He looked like death warmed over, and he’d lost weight since she’d seen him a few weeks ago.

“Is Lisa sleeping?”

“Yeah.” He eased back in his chair. “We’ve been at the hospital pretty much every day this week.”

That ache filled her chest again, along with the feeling she should have been here rather than off in

Chicago chasing treasure. “I’m so sorry, Rafe.”

“Yeah. Well…”

He stared at his mug. Then finally those dark eyes of his lifted to her face, and she realized, in that

moment, marrying him had not been a mistake. She’d loved him—still loved him—just not in the

way either of them needed. Teresa was right: they were family. In one of those twisted ways most

people wouldn’t understand. In a way that meant more to her than any of her Roarke blood relatives, save Graham.

“So that cop,” Rafe said. “You gonna tell me what the deal is there?”

She almost laughed. Yep, this was the man she knew so well. Always sticking his nose where it

didn’t belong, looking out for her more like a big brother than an ex-husband. “There is no deal.

He’s just helping me.”

“Looks to me like he’s doing more than just helping. How the heck did you run into him anyway?”

“He came to question me about Bryan’s murder.” He nodded in a way that made her flick him a

look. “It’s not what you think.”

“What do I think?”

“That there’s something going on between us. There isn’t. I mean…” She looked into her coffee because even she knew her protest sounded stupid. What the hell was going on between her and

Shane? She rose to get more java. “I don’t know what to tell you.”

Rafe snickered as he lifted his mug to his lips.

“I thought I heard a party going on in here,” Lisa said from the doorway. Her short red hair was tousled, and she wore cotton capri sleep pants and a baggy T-shirt. She kissed Rafe on the top of his

head as she walked by, then reached for a mug from the cupboard.

Hailey made room at the counter. “Hope we didn’t wake you.”

“No.” Lisa poured coffee into her mug. “Couldn’t sleep.”

“She can’t sleep without me,” Rafe said. “Isn’t that right, querida?“

Lisa frowned and took her mug to the chair on Rafe’s other side. “Damn irritating is what I call it,”

she mumbled.

A smile spread across Rafe’s face as he reached for Lisa’s hand on the table. One that told Hailey,

yeah, he was hurting now, and it would take a long time for him to heal, but he’d be okay.

Lisa set her mug down. “So Shane told me what happened at your uncle’s place in the Everglades.”

“What happened in the Everglades?” Rafe asked, suddenly serious.

Oh, man, now there was a story she didn’t want to repeat to this man. She already had one overprotective alpha male watching her every move. She did not need two.

When Hailey avoided the question by picking up her coffee and taking a long drink, Lisa dove into

the story. Starting with their car going into the slough and ending with her little poisoning scare.

That tired look was gone from Rafe’s dark eyes when his attention focused on Hailey. “Okay.

You’re not leaving this house.”

Hailey rolled her eyes and headed for the refrigerator, looking for something to keep her hands

busy. “As if that’s gonna stop me. Lisa, do you guys have eggs?”

“Yeah, all the way in the back.” Lisa pushed back from the table and joined Hailey at the fridge. “I

think there’s even some bacon in the freezer.”

Rafe turned in his chair. “Stop avoiding the topic.”

“What topic?” Pete asked from the doorway, his messy blond hair matted on one side.

“I’ll make more coffee,” Lisa announced, turning for the pot.

“Did we wake you?” Hailey asked as she set breakfast makings on the counter.

Beside Pete, Kat yawned. “No. The mix-master in my bed woke me.”

Pete grinned in that lazy way of his and wrapped an arm around Kat’s shoulder. “Usually you like it

when I wake you in the middle of the night.”

Kat rolled her eyes. Hailey and Lisa chuckled.

“So what topic are we avoiding?” Pete asked, finding an open chair at the table and dropping into it.

“Hailey and Shane,” Lisa said.

“Poisonings, murder and car chases,” Rafe huffed.

“’Kay, wait.” Pete held up a hand. “The heiress and the cop are finally getting it on. I picked up on

that. But you’re going to have to repeat that last part.”

Kat’s brows lifted. “Wow. No one around here does anything normal, do they?”

Hailey rubbed her suddenly throbbing head and turned toward Lisa. “I think I need alcohol.”

Lisa grinned. “I’m pretty sure we have all the makings for screwdrivers in here somewhere.”

Oh, now wasn’t that appropriate?

While Lisa and Rafe filled Pete and Kat in on the drama surrounding Hailey and her father’s will,

Hailey played bartender. Rafe took his mug to the sink and started in on breakfast, cracking eggs into a bowl and whipping them up for his famous omelets. The kitchen was a buzz of activity, voices

chattering, plates and glasses clinking. It was like every other get-together they’d had over the

years, so long as you overlooked the fact it was two A.M. and the reason they were all here was because they’d lost someone they loved.

The kitchen door opened with a clank, and Billy came in, dressed in the same clothes he’d worn that

day. Though the rest of them had all gotten some kind of sleep, the dark circles under his eyes and

his sallow skin confirmed he hadn’t slowed down since leaving the hospital. Conversation quieted

as he stepped into the room. Especially when he pulled an exhausted Nicole in after him.

Hailey’s gaze flicked from Billy to Nicole, then over to Rafe. And she didn’t miss the flash of temper in Rafe’s eyes.

Rafe’s attention returned to the stove, where he flipped an omelet. But his jaw clenched and unclenched in that controlled way of his that said he was good and truly ticked. “Wondered when we’d

see you again.”

The brothers’ tumultuous relationship was nothing new, but Hailey had thought the two had turned a

corner when they’d brought Teresa to Puerto Rico several months ago. They’d seemed to be getting

along and working together, until the last month or so when Billy had lit back to Miami to pick up

his old life, working for Pete at Odyssey now and then and doing freelance security work that was

10,000 levels beneath that Nobel Prize brain of his.

Billy closed the kitchen door with one hand but kept the other wrapped tightly around Nicole’s.

“We’ve been at Marc and Michaela’s house.”

Rafe glanced over at the mention of his aunt and uncle, Teresa’s younger brother and wife who

lived in San Juan. “What were you doing there?”

Billy shrugged. “Planning. Mamá wanted to have a wake, just like we did for Dad when he died. I

want to make sure we do it right.”

Rafe flipped off the fire. His brows drew together in a way that said this obviously wasn’t where

he’d expected Billy to run off for after leaving the hospital. “I would have gone with you. If you’d

waited—”

“Rafe,” Billy cut in. “You got a houseful of people here. And besides. I want to do this. You’ve been

handling everything up until now. I think it’s way past time I stepped in and did my share.” When

Rafe’s mouth dropped open in protest, he added, “Let me take care of this. For Mamá. It doesn’t

make up for any of the other crap I’ve done, but it’s a start.”

You could have knocked Rafe over with a fingertip, that’s how shocked he looked. The room was

silent as everyone listened. Luckily, Lisa had the faculties to break the silence and step forward to

hug Billy. “I think that is the best gift you can give her, Billy. She’d love that.”

“Thanks, Lisa.”

That seemed to break the spell Rafe was under, and without hesitation, he moved forward to hug

Billy as well. Conversation picked back up in the kitchen, the tense weight of Billy’s arrival lifting

like a cloud being swept away. And as tears burned Hailey’s eyes again, she knew yep, these guys

were family. And she wouldn’t change it if she could.

Realizing Rafe had left the eggs cooking on the stove, Hailey moved to transfer them to a plate.

“What’s going on in here?”

She turned quickly at the sound of Shane’s deep voice and looked up to find him standing closer

than she’d expected. His hair was rumpled, his jaw stubbled, his feet bare. In a light blue T-shirt and

faded jeans, he looked sexy and dangerous and way too much like the comfort she needed right this

minute.

She squeezed between Pete and Kat, set the first omelet on the table along with a handful of forks,

then returned to the counter to grab a rag to wipe her hands. “Well, let’s see. Billy and Rafe just had

a moment. We’re eating breakfast because no one can sleep. Screwdrivers are in the pitcher over

there, and I don’t have a clue what’s going on with Nicole. What are you up to?”

“Tony left a message on my cell. Said he had some info for us.”

Okay, well, if that wasn’t a buzzkill, nothing was. Not for the first time, Hailey wished he hadn’t

picked up a replacement phone in Marathon, though part of her was dying to know what was happening in Chicago. “Did he elaborate?”

“Not yet. Said he’d call back.”

Since there was no sense stressing over what she couldn’t foretell, Hailey reached for a glass. “Do

you want—”

A piece of paper was shoved in her face. Hailey turned, only to see Nicole handing her a note.

“Here. This is both of them. Mine and Mother’s.”

Glass forgotten, Hailey hesitantly took the slip of paper from her sister. She was aware of Shane’s

rapt attention at her side as she opened the paper to peer at the numbers inside. “You’re giving them

to me, just like that?”

Nicole shrugged. “They’re just numbers.”

Conversation in the kitchen died down once again, only this time she and Nicole were the center of

attention. “Why now? I don’t under—”

“Look, it’s no big deal, okay? I mean, if you don’t want them—”

For whatever reason, Hailey realized her sister was offering her a gift. And when she saw the way

Nicole shot a nervous look at Billy, and the sappy, stupid expression on Billy’s face while he

watched Nicole from across the room, Hailey knew something monumental had happened here

tonight. “I didn’t say that. I just…”

“Yeah, well,” Nicole said, crossing her arms over her chest, looking increasingly uncomfortable

with the conversation. “I only physically have the one statue. I put mine in my safety-deposit box

after Bryan was killed, just in case.”

“I don’t need the actual statues,” Hailey said. “Just the numbers.”

“That’s good because I’m petty sure Mother destroyed hers. You know she never liked that thing.

She only hung on to it because Daddy gave it to her and wouldn’t let her get rid of it. She was more

than interested in getting mine, though, after the will reading.” Nicole glanced at the note. “Oh, and

that third number is from Graham’s bronze.”