Taken Identity (5 page)

Jules sat at the breakfast bar, wearing only the vest and men’s boxers that were her usual sleeping attire, and sipped her drink as she watched the sun rise over the hills. Yawning and bleary-eyed, she pondered everything that had happened over the past twenty-four hours.

A blackbird eyed her resident robin, probably debating whether to argue over the last of the nuts in the holder. She made a mental note to buy another bagful as the robin preened itself and the blackbird, defeated, flew away. The robin’s self-satisfied look reminded her of Gray when he had handed her into her taxi, a glimmer in his eye, as if he knew he had surprised her.

How can someone else be me?
She mulled over the question in her mind.
Same name and age?
Well, okay, that was a big coincidence, but not impossible. After all, there had been two Caitlin Smiths in her class at junior school, both with blonde hair, and with birthdays a few days apart. However, same career? Obviously not, as Gray had said, the books she had shown him had been claimed by the other Julia. Now she wished she had agreed to have her photo on the fly cover. However, when they had first been published, she hadn’t been sure enough of her ability to be so open about it. Hindsight was a wonderful thing.

Therefore, the loaded question was, what the hell was going on and how was it going to be sorted out? She wandered into the shower and turned the spray onto full—and chilly. Maybe that would shake her up and hopefully, Gray Reynard would have some answers when they met later.

* * * *

Well, he did and he didn’t, Jules thought later, as she sat at an oval table in a bland conference room, and checked out the furnishings.

Once she’d collected everything she’d thought she might need, she’d packed a bag the size of a small suitcase and driven the few miles to Gray’s hotel. The hotel might be palatial, exclusive and expensive with a reputation second to none in Scotland, but Jules decided its conference rooms were a distinct let down. Obviously, multimillion pound deals didn’t need frills.

Gray and a small, nondescript man, whom Gray had introduced to her as, “Sean, the investigator who turned you up,” sat across the table from her. Those answers they did have raised more questions.

Sean apologized to her for his mistake, but justified it by all the things he had found that led him to her.
Typical man,
an excuse for
everything. And they say it’s the woman who always has a headache. Well true enough, he is giving me one, but still.

She let him hang himself in silence then let out all her pent-up frustrations on one long breath. After listening to him, Jules didn’t know whether to be impressed or dismayed. Probably a bit of both. They weren’t easy to get her head around.

“So,” she said slowly, but forcefully. “You screwed it up.”

Sean winced and Gray looked amused.

“Well, not in so many words,” Sean said.

“No? How many words would you like me to use? I can doubtlessly knock a couple off. Fucked up. Is that better?”

“Jules, let him off. He knows he’s made a mess of things,” Gray said.

Sean probably wisely, kept his mouth shut.

“Spoilsport.” Nevertheless, Gray had defused her temper. “Now let me see if I’ve got all this stuff straight. Okay?”

Both men nodded.

“Right. First.” Jules held up one finger. “Gray met and then married someone called Julia Frances Frayne. How long ago?”

“Two years, three months ago. I’d known her for about nine months then.”

“Hmm.” Jules dug into her capacious bag and brought out a series of notebooks.

“Diaries,” she said, in answer to their unspoken questions. Really, men were so predictable in their responses. A raised eyebrow, and a disbelieving look at anything they wouldn’t have thought of. “I’m one of those weird women who write things down in a book, not just on my iPhone or laptop. So, when are we looking at? Yup, here we are, just over three years ago. Month?”

“July, when we met, May of the following year when we married. November when she buggered off,” Gray said succinctly.

“Well, that’s concise.” He was, she realized, getting less pedantic in his speech the longer they were together. “Therefore, she must have decided to be me sometime before that. I wonder how far back I need to go. D’you know anything that would help?”

“The one thing I have noticed is that I haven’t found any trace of her before I found you. Not that that’s a lot of help,” Sean said.

“As a matter of
great
interest, how did you find
me
all of a sudden? I mean, if you’ve been hunting Julia Frayne since she left Gray, why has it taken you this long? I’m on Google.” Their attitude annoyed her.
How up yourself do you sound now, Jules
? “And Frayne isn’t that common a name. I’m the only one in the local phone book.”

Gray looked somewhat embarrassed. “Yes, well, er… Oh shit. I—we haven’t been looking that long. I mean, for God’s sake, how do you admit the woman you thought was madly in love with you has made a right idiot of you, left you and taken the family jewels?”

Jules and Sean burst out laughing.

“What?” Gray must have realized what he’d said because he colored and gave a short, self-conscious laugh. “Yeah, well, the way I felt when I found out, you could have said she had. Put me off women for a long time, I can tell you—with the exception of one fiasco I am
not
going to discuss. Talk about being taken for a ride, twice. However, I have learned my lesson well. No more, never again.” He sat back, folded his arms over his chest and swung his chair on two legs. The action tightened his muscles and drew attention to his body.

“
Ah
, bless. Build a bridge,” Jules said.
Shit I wish I could block out the image of what I think he’d look like naked.
It made her mouth dry and her pussy wet. “Hell, where do I start?”

“Pardon?”

Back to the lava freezing, then. Boy could I warm him up given the chance. Argh no, he’s married, married and not for me—not even if I do have the right name.

“Pardon what?” If he could be short and shirty, then so could she. Probably better, and able to keep it up for longer. Not for nothing had she learned to hold her own against her brother. However, she’d be magnanimous. This time. “I’m sorry. What are you asking my pardon for?”

“Build a bridge.”

“Oh, that.” Jules laughed. “Build a bridge. Get over it. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. It’s happened. End of. If anyone should be feeling sorry, it’s me. There’s someone out there using me as them. Getting up to God knows what. Now that is something to worry about. Okay your jewels—all of them—are precious, but presumably, one lot is insured, and the other lot is now in full working order?”

She could see Gray trying hard not to laugh again. “Perhaps you’d like to try them out?”

“Mmm.” She tilted her head to one side, pursed her lips and tapped them with her index finger. “Who knows? Perhaps I would, sometime. When your wife isn’t your wife and isn’t me.”

She’d forgotten Sean. When she remembered his presence, she saw him watching the byplay with interest, until he cleared his throat. Gray snorted.

“Dilemmas, eh?”

“Er, before all this bridge and jewelry lark, you said ‘where do I start?’” Sean ignored Gray and spoke directly to Jules. “So, start what?”

“Well, I was trying to be logical. Don’t laugh, you oaf,” she said to Gray, who still sniggered, “or I’ll stop before I do.”

She ignored the muttered, “Oh, that would be a pity.” Gray, she was fast realizing, was nothing like the upper class Rah she had first thought him.

“I thought perhaps we could get an idea of when she became me and might find a clue in my diaries,” Jules explained her thought process. “Long shot, but hey, we’ve bugger all else to go on.”

“It’s not a bad bugger all though. Good thinking.”

She didn’t know who was more surprised, her or Gray, when he pulled her out of her chair and took hold of her shoulders before kissing her hard on the lips. The tingle went all the way down to her—well, she thought hazily as she opened her mouth and took his tongue inside to let it swirl and circle her own—to everywhere, and especially to her pussy. Her thighs were damp, and she daren’t check to see if her arousal showed in the material that covered her mound. It took all her small supply of control not to moan and pull him back in for round two, as he slowly ended the kiss and moved backwards to lean against the table. He seemed as dazed as she was.

“PDAs,” Jules said shakily, “are
so
not on.”

Gray’s voice was as unsteady as hers. “Not public. But if I decreed we did it in public, believe me, we would.”

She didn’t doubt it for one moment.

He ran his hand over his head, something Jules noticed he did when his emotions were aroused.

She dared not check to see if it was only his emotion that was aroused. “Sean’s here.”

“Oh, don’t mind me,” the other man said laughingly. “I didn’t look.”

“Yeah, right. And I’m Victoria Beckham. Anyway, for God’s sake, let’s try to sort some of this out. Before it says on the front page of
Hello
that I’m lap dancing in Las Vegas or giving birth on a camel. Apart from the fact neither appeals to me, it would give the parents a heart attack.” She could tell by Gray’s face he hadn’t considered the fact that other people could be affected by the situation.

“Yup.” She interpreted his expression correctly. “Mum, Dad, brother. To say nothing of assorted aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, acquaintances, all who could suddenly see I’d been somewhere—well, thought I was somewhere—and I was ignoring them.”

“But if they saw Julia… I mean, shit, what shall I call her? Her, they’d know she wasn’t you.”

“True. However, what you don’t seem to realize is that they don’t have to see me. Just see my name. Oh, for God’s sake, I’m Jules. You just keep on calling her Julia. I’ll think of her as that bloody bitch!”

“Fair enough. So, what have you got?”

She pulled a thick A4 pad out of her cavernous shoulder bag.

Gray stared at the bag as she rummaged in its depths. “Bloody hell, that’s big enough to hide an elephant.”

“What? Oh, the bag. Well, it’s a girl thing. We either carry a tiny clutch like I had last night, which holds the bare necessities or a bag like this, which carries the essentials. Simple.”

“If you say so. C’mon, let’s sit back down.”

He resumed his seat, and Jules followed suit.

“Right, we’re in your hands.”

She could almost see the thought
And
I really wish I was in your hands, literally,
in a speech bubble above her head. She ignored Sean’s snigger.

“You said she told you she was a children’s author. Yes?”

Gray nodded.

“So, she couldn’t have borrowed me until after my first book was published. So that narrows it down slightly.” She paused for effect. “To the last eight years.”

“What?”

“I had my first book published on my twenty-first birthday. So eight and a bit years.”

Gray groaned. “Talk about needles and haystacks. It’s impossible.”

Sean spoke up. “No, it’s not. Long, drawn out, slow, but not impossible. Okay, I’m going now, to see what information I can discover. Try to find out if, and when, somebody applied for a passport and where. D’you know when you got yours, Jules?”

In reply, she took her passport out of the bag and handed it to him. “Some people do have more than one, don’t they? In case they are flying to counties that don’t want you to have been to a certain other country. Or have dual nationality? I only have the one though and it was issued in Glasgow.”

Sean nodded as he wrote down the details. “Yeah, but it’s a start. Because if I do turn up another, it’s not yours.”

“And then what?”

“Buggered if I know. But at least we’ll have an idea when all this started.”

“Not necessarily. Just when she decided she needed a passport. Oh, and I’ve had another thought. What about her married name? I mean Julia Frances Reynard. Would she not have bank accounts, or a passport, in that? What are you two looking like that for?” She had seen a glance pass from Sean to Gray, who shook his head.

“She said she preferred to keep her…well your, maiden name, and as for the passport?” He turned to Sean.

“Might not have a legal passport. Someone may have got hold of yours and used the info to fake one for her,” Sean said gruffly. “So, when you’re rereading your misspent twenties, see if you can remember misplacing it for a time. Even a few hours would be enough.”

“Sh…” Her voice trailed off.
Oh, shit. Is it that easy to steal me? I’m shaking. What else might I have done? Keep calm, Jules. Hold it together.
“Oh. Right. Okay. Whew! I couldn’t half do with a drink. Bloody hell, Gray. This is turning me into an alcoholic.”

“Not quite. It is midday now.”

“Oh, well, that’s all right then,” Jules retorted sarcastically. She hardly noticed that with a swift wave of his hand, Sean had quietly left the room. “It’s midday, so bring on the gin! If I drink now, I’ll sleep for the afternoon. So maybe it
should
be bring on the drink. I didn’t get the best night’s sleep of my life last night.”

Gray went toward the phone. “I’ll ring for some.”

Jules stopped him with a look. “Coffee please, and lots of it.”

He went to the insulated pot that had been left on a side table, poured two cups and handed one to her. “Same as last night? Just milk?”

“Mm, thanks.” She took a gulp. “So, do we work backwards from when you met her or forwards from when I had my first book published?”

Gray looked at the foot-high pile of diaries and notebooks on the table and groaned. “Are you sure you want me to read all about what you had for dinner, or where you went shopping?”

Jules laughed, the first genuine laugh she’d given—apart, she thought, from that thing about Gray’s
jewels
—since he’d appeared on her doorstep.

“Think positive,” she advised him. “You might get the diary where I’ve written about making love on a pool table or having sex with David Beckham in a swimming pool.”