Fiance by Friday (20 page)

“You shower first,” he told her.

She rummaged through her bag and held up two bottles of hair dye. “Brunette or redhead?”

He loved her hair as it was. “You don’t have to—”

“Neil. Please, look at me. I’m dressed like a common street girl. Surely a different hair color would aid in my disguise better than the clothes on my back. I’m not suggesting anything permanent. In fact, the box says this washes out within a week.” She waved the boxes in the air.

He couldn’t argue. “Surprise me.”

She gathered her bag and disappeared into the bathroom. “Hot shower…here I come.”

Chapter Seventeen

Blake waited patiently for introductions to finish before he encouraged everyone to sit so they could start to piece together all the information.

They met in Eliza and Carter’s southern California home. Dean and Jim sat on opposite sides of the room. Karen and Michael faced each other across the living room. Carter hadn’t arrived from Sacramento and planned on joining them the next day.

Blake glanced at Eliza, whom he knew better than Karen. He didn’t like the fact they were talking in front of Michael, but it couldn’t be helped.

Dean directed the conversation. “Eliza said you felt Neil was justified in hiding Gwen. Can you tell me why you think that way, Karen?”

“It started a couple of weeks ago. Right after Michael and I met. The more I think about it, the more I realize how off things have been at home.”

Jim waved a hand in the air. “You need to start at the beginning.”

“First were the cameras. Neil called on several occasions asking us to check the yard. The videos were fuzzy or something. Then I found a dead crow with its beak stuck in the screen. The window was open…which I don’t remember opening. I could have forgotten,
I guess. It’s been so hot lately, we’ve had the air-conditioning on most of the time.” She shivered. “I hate birds,” Karen said with a grimace. “Gwen was great. Just knocked the bird free of the screen and tossed it to the ground below before throwing it in the trash. We didn’t think of it after that.”

“Until?”

Karen sighed. “Until dinner…a couple nights before we got married.” Karen played with the diamond on her finger and smiled at her husband.

Michael winked at her.

“What happened then?” Dean asked.

“We went to dinner. On our way out we found another crow…Gwen called it a raven, by my side of the car. I thought the birds were on a suicide mission or something. Gwen wasn’t convinced. Seemed to think the bird was there deliberately.”

“Why?” Blake asked.

Karen glanced at Michael again. “Michael and I’d been seeing each other daily. She thought maybe someone found out I had a thing about birds and was planting them to scare me.”

Michael sat up. “I’ve had fans do some crazy shit to get my attention in the past.”

Dean directed his attention to Michael. “Do you have a restraining order against anyone?”

Michael shook his head. “No. I get my share of hate mail. Goes with the territory.”

“I’m going to need copies of anything you have,” Dean told him.

“I’ll have my assistant drum them up. We keep everything in case of an issue like this.”

Birds nesting in a Jacuzzi and causing some kind of electrical issue Blake could stretch…but three different incidences. His brain didn’t stretch that far.

“So you think the dead birds are directed at you?”

Karen shrugged. “I hate birds. Serious phobia. I suppose if someone was determined to press one of my hot buttons, the dead birds could be directed at me.”

Michael moved to the edge of his seat. “I’ve had missed calls and paper mail with strange ‘gifts,’ but I’ve never had anyone leave dead animals where I can find them.”

“I’ve watched enough crime fiction to know that dead animals eventually progress into people. Do you think that’s what’s going on here, Dean?” Eliza asked.

Dean and Jim looked at each other, their nonverbal communication written on their faces.

“That’s one theory.”

“So it’s not implausible that there is a rabid fan of Michael’s out there who isn’t happy with his relationship with Karen?” Eliza asked.

“Could be.”

Blake shook his head. “Then why would Neil pull Gwen away?” Why leave the letter behind about contacting the damn president if he didn’t call? And if he didn’t call…did that mean he and Gwen were dead? He hated this. The not knowing. The inability to control the chaos of the situation.

“Neil must believe this has something to do with him,” Jim added.

“Why? Why would someone use Karen and Gwen to get to Neil? Neil works with me.” Blake stood and started to pace. “Why not go after Neil’s family…someone he’s involved with romantically?”

“Does Neil have a family?” Dean asked.

“I’ve heard of a grandmother. I think his parents are dead. I’m not sure.” Damn if Blake wasn’t sorry for not knowing that now. When he looked up, he noticed a look between Eliza and Karen.

“What?”

Karen glanced at Eliza, gave her a half smile. “You gonna tell him or am I?”

Eliza studied her shoes. “I-I, ah…not sure how to tell you this, Blake.”

He felt a headache coming on. “What?”

“Your sister…Neil…”

His skin grew cold. “What?”

“They have this thing…”

“A thing? What the hell kind of a thing?” His blood pumped hard in his chest. Neil and his sister? How had he missed this?

“It’s not a thing like you’re thinking,” Karen added. “They’ve never acted on it.”

Acted on what? Now he was really confused.

Eliza tossed her hands in the air. “It’s like this. She’s always had it bad for him. I noticed in Texas last year. She never really opened up to me about it. But I’m guessing she said something to you, Karen.”

Karen shrugged. “Yeah. I knew. It’s not like she’s been subtle. Neil, for whatever reason, hasn’t ever acted on what is obvious to everyone.”

Blake erupted. “Well it sure as hell wasn’t obvious to me.”

“You’ve been a little busy,” Eliza said. “Either way. It’s safe to say I think Neil cares for Gwen on a much deeper level than as a job. Otherwise why would he have reacted the way he did?”

Blake sucked in a deep breath. “Where the hell does Carter keep his whiskey?”

Gwen moved around the bathroom with a towel holding her newly dyed hair. She hand-washed her clothes and draped them over the towel rack and the edge of the sink. She wore her nightgown, the
only clean item of clothing in her bag, and nothing else. She’d wanted a hot shower and ended with a tepid one at best. It was a blessing that the heat in Utah was in the triple digits, giving the water an extra degree or two within the pipes.

Once she finished washing her last pair of underwear, she turned toward the mirror. “Well, Gwen. Let’s see what you look like with brown hair.”

With all her brave words and intentions, she couldn’t go red. Not yet. Baby steps, she told herself. The natural state of her platinum blonde hair would appear different with any darker color…so she chickened out and used the brown. And then didn’t leave it in all that long.

She twisted the towel off her head and shook out her wet locks.

Not bad. Not fabulous, but not awful either. Without a hair dryer, Gwen used her brush to pull some of the wetness from her hair.

With nothing left to do, she opened the door and stepped on the comforter on the floor.

Neil sat on the bed watching the television, which was tuned to a local news station.

“Well? What do you think?” She spun in a circle.

Neil found the remote and turned down the set. He glanced at her head and then let his gaze slide down her body.

“I like it.”

He didn’t. She could tell, but he wasn’t going to say anything against it.

She ran her fingers through it. “It’s not awful. Probably looks better dry.”

“How long before it washes out?”

“A few days.” Which was the only reason she did it. “Bathroom’s yours. There is laundry…everywhere.”

“No helping that. The air conditioner isn’t the best. Seems a little cooler in here to me.”

Barely. But being clean made up for the heat. A fan over the bed spun and moved the air.

Neil moved around the bed and disappeared into the bathroom.

On second appraisal, the room was even worse than she thought. With hardly enough room to walk between the bed and the furniture, the only option was to sit on the bed. Gwen peeked outside and found only a glow of a distant room and a streetlight.

“At least it’s quiet.”

The local news talked about a break in the heat wave over the next few days, which was something Gwen looked forward to. The heat wore on her after a while. Perhaps it was her upbringing in Europe that made her intolerant to excessive heat.

The bed was surprisingly comfortable. The king-size bed.

There’s only one bed.

The implications of that fact hit her and she smiled.

And when the shower turned off, she felt her skin heat with expectation.

A short while later Neil emerged from the bathroom. He wore only a towel around his hips. What she saw brought a gasp from her lips.

“Oh my God, Neil…I had no idea.” She shot from the bed and stood at his side.

His glanced down at his own massive chest, which filled the doorway better than any man ever could.

“Impossible to escape the military without one.”

The ink spread over his left shoulder and wrapped around his back. It wasn’t a picture of a face or animal…or even a symbol she recognized. Rather it swirled and spiked and flowed with his skin. It was raw and urgent, just like the man. “What is it?” She traced it with her fingertips.

“A tribal tattoo. Some of us were on leave. Got drunk.”

She couldn’t picture him out of control enough to allow this. “Do you regret it?” She hoped not. She thought it suited him perfectly. The muscles on his back rippled under her touch.

“Too many other things in life to regret. This isn’t one of them.”

She couldn’t stop touching him. Didn’t want to. She ran her fingernail along the swirls as if the ink were a living thing. “I had no idea this was hiding behind your clothing.” Mesmerized she reached the final spike below his rib cage and worked her way back up. “What is it Americans say…go big or go home?”

His chest rumbled with a short laugh.

She followed her finger with her gaze. “You don’t do anything partway…do you?”

“Do it right, or don’t do it at all,” he said under his breath.

She grinned now, and moved her gaze to his.

Her breath caught with the intensity of his stare.

She flattened her palm on his chest and licked her lips. One subtle movement of her hand and he caught it in his. For one awful moment, she thought he’d peel her off.

“I’m not an easy man, Gwendolyn.”

“I never wanted easy.”

She matched his stare and her breath quickened.

He released her hand and pushed his fingers into her hair. He studied her face, like only Neil did…as if searching for the answers in life. If she could give them to him, she would. There was a vulnerability in his gaze that she wanted to make disappear.

And when he gripped the back of her hair, and pulled her into his embrace, he took control.

His kiss was hard, almost a warning…she enveloped it.

The thick expanse of his chest rippled under her hand as she matched him for every kiss. She nipped his lip when he pulled back to kiss her neck and shoulder. He tasted her, using his tongue and teeth along her collarbone. The scruff of his chin felt delicious on
her soft skin. He’d leave his mark on her, she knew. She loved the thought.

He released her hair and ran his hand down her back. When he reached her bottom, he squeezed her hard, and pulled her close. Under the towel, his erection already strained. As much as she wanted to see and feel that part of him moving inside her, she wanted this more. The torture of discovery and desire that made every pore in her skin weep for him. Only him.

Fingers found the bare skin of her backside. “Where are your
knickers
, Gwen?”

Was that laughter in his voice?

“Useless garment when going to bed…don’t you think?” She scraped her teeth along the ink on his shoulder before swirling her tongue around his erect nipple.