Hostage Midwife (15 page)

Chapter Seventeen

Thursday, 8:22 p.m.

As soon as they said good-night to the class and closed up the room, Kelly and Nick bolted. Their separate minds had wrapped around a single thought, and they were both ready, so ready, to make love.

In his SUV, she said, “My happy place was you.”

“I’m with you,” he said. “I started with thinking about you in the outdoors with
the wind in your hair and flowers all around you. And then the wind blew harder, and your clothes went flying off.”

“That’s handy.”

“You said to use all your senses, so I added a sound track. I tried for something ethereal, like a flute or a harp. But I’m a country-western boy. So, I heard guitars and the sweet voice of Taylor Swift.”

He paused, and she had to ask, “Then what?”

“I had to shut down my imagination before I got too turned on. I was going to be cradling my pregnant sister-in-law in my arms, and I didn’t want her to get the wrong idea.”

She chuckled as he pulled his SUV into the parking lot outside the condo. She didn’t wait for him to come around to her side and open the door. There wasn’t time to be polite, wasn’t time for anything. The kissing
started in the elevator as they rode to the third floor. By the time he unlocked his door, he’d already taken off her jacket and had his hands under her shirt.

Inside the condo, he stepped back and held her by the shoulders as he looked into her eyes. “I don’t want to rush.”

“Neither do I.” But adrenaline pumped through her, sending her pulse into high gear.

“Would you like wine?”

“That sounds very civilized.”

“Too civilized,” he said as he led the way down the hall to his bedroom. “I’m going to leave you here while I get the wine.”

“What am I supposed to do?”

“Surprise me.”

She was so eager to make love that she didn’t need encouragement. Kelly had never really thought of herself as a sexy woman. Making love had always been natural for her and,
most of the time, enjoyable. But she didn’t have the confidence to be a sultry femme fatale...not until now.

Kelly had changed. She was a different woman.

In his bedroom, she abandoned all thoughts of self-consciousness and stripped down to her bra and panties. It would have been great if her underwear had been lacy and black, but the simple beige brassiere made it look as if she wasn’t
wearing anything at all, and her bikini-cut panties were bright pink. With luck, she wouldn’t be wearing them for long.

She pulled the comforter off his bed and slid between the smooth yellow sheets. As she waited for him, a tiny doubt bubbled up in her mind. Was there a future for this relationship? He lived in Breckenridge, and she was basically homeless. It was entirely possible that they
would only have a few days together, maybe a week or a month. Was she okay with that?

When he walked through the bedroom door holding a wine bottle and two glasses and wearing nothing but a pair of black briefs, she decided she was fine with things the way they were. No commitment was necessary. If tonight was all they had, it would be enough.

Not taking her eyes off him, she lay back
on the pillow. “I like your outfit, Nick.”

“Same to you.” He sat on the edge of the bed and set down the wine and stemmed glasses on the bedside table. “But I’d like it better if we got this sheet out of the way.”

He yanked the material aside, revealing her whole body and her resplendent pink panties. His gaze was warm as he slowly looked her up and down, and she arched her back, shamelessly
posing like a cover girl. “Is this what you imagined?”

“Everything and a bag of chips.”

He slipped his arm under her back and lifted her off the sheets, placing her in his lap. She knew that simple move required some serious muscles, enough to bench press her entire weight. She remembered in Julia’s house when he lifted her off the staircase. His strength was impressive.

On his
lap with her arms draped around his shoulders, she kissed him slowly and thoroughly. First, they tasted each other. Next, they tried the wine. A sip of Chardonnay aroused her palate and slithered down her throat. No need to worry about getting drunk, she was already intoxicated by his nearness.

“Tomorrow,” she said, “we’ll go to the mountains.”

“I know a little place we can stay overnight.”

“Camping?” She enjoyed roughing it, cooking over a fire and sleeping under the stars.

“The Hearthstone Motel,” he said, “the place where my uncle stayed when he visited the gold mine.”

No matter how much she wished otherwise, Samuel’s murder was never far from his thoughts. It was a wound that she couldn’t heal for him. All she could do was offer comfort.

After they finished
a glass of wine, he stretched her out on the bed. Instead of lying beside her, he went to the end of the mattress.

“The first time I saw you,” he said, “I noticed your crazy-colored toenails—pink, yellow and purple.”

“It’s a game I was playing with Princess Butterfly.”

“This is what I wanted to do to those toes.”

He picked up her foot, caressed each toe and massaged the arch.
His touch set off a chain reaction in her nervous system, elevating her sensitivity. He reached up her calves and then went higher. Excitement rippled across the surface of her skin in waves that grew stronger and stronger.

Gasping, she said, “If this is the start to the massage you promised, keep going.”

His calloused hands climbed her torso. When he finally touched her breasts, the
anticipation was too much for her to stand. She pulled him down on top of her. She needed him, needed to feel him inside her, and couldn’t wait another moment.

He matched her passion and encouraged her to go even higher. In a barely controlled frenzy, they made love.

Later that night, she paid him back, using massage techniques she’d read about when looking into Tantric Yoga. “I always
wanted to take a class in this,” she said, “but it’s a couples’ thing.”

“Sign us up.”

She’d never been this daring in the bedroom, gazing into his eyes and touching him intimately. The release of sexual energy was amazing. She’d heard about nine thrusts to ecstasy, and Nick delivered.

Friday, 10:04 a.m.

T
HE
NEXT
MORNING
,
N
ICK
took his time getting out of bed, which meant he
made love to Kelly again. Though he couldn’t forget the questions, sadness and even the danger that plagued him, he felt good. Being with her made this one of the best days in his life, better than the Christmas when he got a puppy and better than his sixteenth birthday when he lost his virginity.

While she was in the shower, he lay back on the bed and savored the sweetness. His day was bound
to get worse.

Kelly poked her head out of the bathroom door. “When do we go to the mountains?”

“First we’ve got to stop by Jared’s house. He got home this morning at eight o’clock.”

He wasn’t looking forward to facing off with his brother. They should have been united by grief, but they had different opinions about Samuel. Jared didn’t appreciate their uncle’s creativity when it
meant a lack of concern about the bottom line, and he blamed their uncle for putting the company in the red.

Over the years, Nick’s relationship with his brother had become more about finance and less about family. Jared couldn’t forget, not for a minute, that he was the chief executive officer. He was going to be seriously ticked off about the Radcliff loan and Nick’s determination to pay
it off. Marian and Rod had already made their position clear, and he expected Jared to follow the corporate line.

An hour later, Nick drove his SUV into the cul-de-sac where he grew up. Unlike the scene a couple of nights ago, there were no cars parked in Jared’s circular driveway.

“It seems too quiet,” Kelly said. “Where did everybody go?”

He noticed several cars parked along the
curb and down the street. Standing at the front door was a plainclothes security guard.

“Traffic control,” he said. “Security is keeping the driveway open and the media held back. It’s not a bad idea.”

Still, he drove his SUV into the driveway, stopped and threw the gear into Park. Before the guard could order him to move on, he was out of the driver’s seat and coming around to Kelly’s
side to open her door.

“Sir,” the guard said, “I have to ask you to move your vehicle.”

“I’m only going to be here for a couple of minutes,” Nick said. “It’s okay.”

“I have my orders, sir. If you give me your keys, I’ll move the vehicle for you.”

“You don’t have to valet for me. It’s really okay.”

As far as Nick was concerned, this rule didn’t apply to him. Though this
was Jared’s house now, Nick had lived here for nearly fifteen years. Nobody had the right to tell him where he could and couldn’t park.

He opened the door for Kelly and helped her out of the car while the security guard talked into a tiny microphone attached to an earpiece. Nick almost hoped for a physical confrontation with this hard-bodied guy. It would ease his tension to punch something.

The front door opened, and Jared stepped outside. The most obvious physical difference between them was size. Nick stood about six inches taller. When they were growing up, he’d passed Jared in height just after his ninth birthday. His brother had never forgiven him.

Jared said, “I really wish you’d move your SUV.”

“Are you going to make me?” Nick was fully aware that he was being
as immature as a nine-year-old, and he didn’t care.

“Fine.” After a long-suffering sigh, Jared spoke to the guard. “It’s all right for him to park here.”

Immediately, Nick felt guilty. Jared looked tired. His eyes were bloodshot, and his usually healthy complexion looked wan and pale. Either the trip from Singapore had been rough or he was actually feeling something about the death of
their uncle.

Giving him the benefit of the doubt, Nick assumed the latter. He held open his arms and gave his brother a hug. “How are you holding up?”

“I can’t believe Samuel is gone.”

They’d gone through the death of their father together when Nick was twenty-six. Losing him to a sudden heart attack had been hard; there were so many things Nick wished he’d taken the time to tell
his dad. He hadn’t made that mistake with Samuel. He and his uncle had built a lot of memories.

He introduced his brother to Kelly, and they went inside. The atmosphere was more subdued than yesterday. Lauren sat in the living room beside a cousin Nick barely remembered. Julia was in the kitchen with two other women. He wondered if she’d spoken to her son.

Jared took him through the
French doors into the enclosed porch where Nick had gone with Julia to find some privacy. His brother left the door ajar. “Fill me in, Nick. Was it murder or suicide?”

“I don’t know how it was done or why, but he didn’t kill himself.”

“The police don’t agree with you. The only tangible piece of evidence is that Samuel was left-handed.”

“The police didn’t know him. Samuel wasn’t
depressed, and he would never leave a note that said he was sorry. The man never apologized for anything in his life.”

“You’re right about that.” Jared pulled one of the chairs out from the table but didn’t sit. “Samuel’s weird decisions have cost us a boatload of money.”

“That’s according to Marian’s accounting system,” Nick said. “Samuel had vision. Projects that look like losers are
going to pay off in the long run. I went over the terms of his will with Rod yesterday, and it’s all in order.”

“Why wouldn’t it be?”

“It’s not important.” Nick hated that they were talking about money. Their uncle had died. They should be supporting each other, dealing with the pain.

“I’ll decide if it’s important or not.” His tone was sharp. “What kind of problem did you expect
with the will?”

“I talked to Arthur Starkey. He thought he was going to inherit big, but he was wrong.”

“Thank God for that. If our uncle had given all his money to Arthur, I would have believed that he’d gone off the rails and killed himself.”

Nick glanced at the French doors, wondering if Julia could overhear what they were saying. “I’m going to take off soon. There’s a lead I
want to follow up on.”

“Is this about the million-dollar loan?”

“Yes.”

“Damn it, Nick.” Jared rolled his eyes like a teenager. When they were together, they tended to revert to their younger selves. “You’ve got to give up on this. Samuel was crazy to borrow money from Barry Radcliff. And you’re crazy to follow up on it. Leave it to the courts to decide.”

“What if the courts
decide we have to pay with the Valiant gold? That’s what Radcliff wants. According to his document, which is signed by our uncle, he could be collecting the gold next week.”

“That’s not going to happen,” Jared said. “We’ll fight it. We’ll negotiate our way out of the problem.”

“What about doing the right thing? Samuel made a deal with Radcliff, fair and square. We should honor his intention.”

“Don’t pretend that you’re taking the high road.” Jared jabbed a finger at his chest. “You’re irresponsible. If you were involved with the day-to-day business, you’d understand.”

Nick had come here expecting a fight and had gotten one. Anger twisted in his gut. Nobody got to him the way Jared did. He could handle arguments with Marian or Rod or even Julia; he could even put up with insults
from Arthur. But Jared made his blood boil.

He needed to get out of here before he did something stupid. He pivoted. “I’ll keep you informed.”

“You do that,” Jared said. “Tell me all about your wild-goose chase. I could use a laugh.”

When he stalked through the house, Kelly had her purse in hand and immediately fell into step beside him. It was as though she’d been waiting for him.

He was in his SUV and driving away before he was in control enough to speak. “Did you hear any of that?”

“I heard all of it,” she said. “You were yelling at each other.”

Nick hadn’t been aware of raising his voice. He was losing it.