Searching for Sea Glass: BEST-SELLING AUTHOR (Sea Glass Secrets Book 1) (21 page)

His words stung. “You did not rape me. I wanted you. I still want you. I love you.” As soon as the forbidden words were out of her mouth, she watched him shut down. His eyes became shuttered and cold. He got up from the bed. He turned his back to her.

“What you’re experiencing is infatuation,” he told her from across the room. He began to dress in his discarded clothing. She watched the burning candles make his tawny skin glow and turn golden in their meager light.

She dragged the cool sheet up to cover herself. She made herself sit up, though the pain made her uncomfortable. “I know what love is. What I feel for you is love, not infatuation. But don’t worry, I’m not expecting you to return the sentiment. I went into this night with my eyes wide open. And I don’t regret a single thing we did together. I’m sorry if you do. Maybe I better go back to my own room.” She hoped and prayed he’d tell her to stay. She needed him to hold her. To give her a few soft words. Anything to erase this feeling that she was slowly dying.

“Maybe you better,” he didn’t look at her when he said it.

Even though her heart lay shattered in her chest, she nodded. She bit her lip to stifle a groan of discomfort. She wrapped the sheet around her like a robe. She slowly and carefully made her way to the bathroom. A few minutes later she came out dressed in her borrowed evening gown. She’d reached the door when his harsh voice stopped her.

“Sunny, if there’s any lasting consequences from this night, I want to know.”

She didn’t nod or in any way acknowledge what he’d said to her. She just turned the knob, opened the door, and drifted out into the night. JD watched the closed door. He poured himself a squat glass of something a lot stronger than the wine he’d shared with the girl. He looked down into the rich amber liquid for a long, long time. With a look of fatal resignation, he pitched the glass and its contents into the fireplace. The room was silent except for the sound of shattering crystal.

Sea Glass Point

Three Months Later

“I still think the man has a right to know.” Trey Dunn was very intimidating with his sheriff’s uniform, his mirrored aviator shades, and his brawny arms crossed over his chest. If you didn’t know him, you’d think he was a rough character. But Sunny did know him. And so did every one of the others standing there at the passengers’ gate of the small local airport.

“Here sweetie, would you take Fleur? I want to hug Billy and Sunny.” Trinity made the practiced transfer of their little daughter to her father. Trey didn’t look so tough anymore. He looked like the doting dad he was. Trinity, on the other hand, looked quite unlike her normal self. Motherhood had tamed some of the more radical aspects of her appearance. She sported no neon colored hair. And the piercings were now simple, tasteful studs instead of the large gaudy hoops she used to favor.

Maude Evelyn and her beau Harry stood to one side. The old lady wore a tailored linen suit and low decorous pumps. In her day, people dressed up when they traveled. Especially when they were flying. She wasn’t making the trip to Texas, but she felt she should show moral support for Sunny by dressing appropriately for the event. Harry had shaved. For him that was dressing up.

Maxine and her husband were there, as well. The black lady had been the gleeful chauffeur for the whole crowd. Her bus had stopped at each of their homes to pick them up and transport them all to the airport.

They made an odd, cobbled together kind of family. Sunny rubbed her belly and wondered if they would serve as honorary aunts, uncles, and grandparents for this baby she carried. She hoped so. There was little chance the child would ever have any other family. She hadn’t made up her mind whether to tell JD he was going to become a father. He’d made his intentions very clear the night he’d kicked her out.

A part of her worried that if she told him, he’d think she was after his money. Another part knew a man, any man, should be given the opportunity to make his own decisions about his role in the life of his offspring. She figured she’d come to some firm conclusion on the way to Dallas.

She’d been shocked when she’d gotten the call from Helene McIntyre asking her to bring Billy out for a visit. As far as Sunny was concerned, the McIntyres had written both she and the boy off. Maybe JD hadn’t been serious about what he’d threatened in regards to Billy. It was hard to tell. He was almost impossible to read. Or maybe after their short-lived affair, he’d just changed his mind. Helene’s strange call had been the first she’d heard from the high and mighty McIntyres. True, she’d begun receiving an enormous monthly check from McIntyre Industries. She’d yet to cash one of them. Blood money, that’s all they were. Or worse, JD was trying to offer her some kind of compensation for sexual services rendered. Either way, she despised seeing the heavy cream-colored envelope on the first of every month.

Trinity wrapped her in a huge bear hug. “Don’t listen to him.” She jerked her chin towards her husband. “You do what
you
think is right.”

“I hesitate to agree with her, but I will upon this singular occasion,” Maude Evelyn said in her cultured southern accent. “A woman, especially in this day and age, has the right to do as she sees fit. I recommend not letting anyone tell you what to do.”

“I side with the sheriff,” Harry said in his gruff voice. “It’s hard for a woman, alone, to have a baby. The world’s a rough, dangerous place.” He would know. Before he’d become her chef, he’d fought too many covert wars in the service of the United States.

Sunny smiled at them all. They were more her family than the biological kin who shared her name had been. They would stand by her. They would support her, no matter what decision she made about the baby. She’d be lying, if she said she wasn’t afraid. She was. The physical toll on her body alone had already been extensive. As small and frail as her frame was, the pregnancy nausea had whittled it down even more. She loved the way her cheekbones were more prominent now. And her meager breasts had filled out quite a bit. But the rest of her had taken on a rather alarming skeletal look. Then there was the obstetrician’s warning about her placenta.

“He’s right, Sunny,” Trey spoke as he bounced the baby girl in his arms up and down. “With the economy the way it is. And the way business has slacked off at the café. Raising a baby alone will be almost impossible.”

Sunny used his arm as leverage to stand on her toes and kiss the smiling baby. She kissed Trey’s cheek as well. “I’ve raised one child on my own. And he’s turned out pretty well. I can’t see why having another would be any different.”

The women in the small, tight-knit group nodded. The men frowned. Thankfully, a gate attendant walked up to stand behind the small podium that served as a check-in point. With another round of hugs, Sunny and Billy were walking out onto the hot tarmac of the landing strip. They climbed up the short set of rolling stairs and were inside the little puddle-jumper that would take them to Dallas. The flight would take less than an hour. Sunny was more than grateful Helene had sent her the tickets. Though she realized Consuelo was the one who’d probably done the work and suggested buying the tickets in the first place.

Sunny was looking forward to seeing the kind Hispanic housekeeper again. The woman had been instrumental in giving Sunny the best night of her life. Her
Cinderella Night
, as the lady had called it. Consuelo couldn’t be faulted when the evening hadn’t ended as happily as the fairy tale. Sunny still cherished the memories of most of that life-changing night. The way it had ended was still painful. She guessed it probably always would be.

The flight attendant came around and offered the passengers a soft drink and a bag of pretzels. Sunny asked for a ginger-ale. She’d found sipping one helped with her nausea. She kept a huge supply of soda crackers in bag purse for the same reason. Most women had morning sickness for the first few months of a pregnancy, then it faded. Sunny was not so lucky. Her nausea favored no particular time of the day. And it was still as debilitating now as it’d been the week she’d discovered she was expecting.

McIntyre Ranch

“For God’s sake JD, this has got to end,” Sam said.

He looked over at his big brother. The man was a wreck. For months they’d been putting up with his aberrant behavior. It was time to draw a line in the sand. JD had been holed up in his bungalow like some kind of Howard Hughes wannabe for three long months. As far as Sam could tell the man hadn’t shaved or bathed the entire time. Every surface of the place was littered with dirty dishes, empty bottles, and ashtrays overflowing with cigarette butts. It was a pigsty. And it smelled like one.

“Get out,” the shaggy looking beast who might be his older brother ordered.

There was a distinctive slur to his voice. Sam wasn’t at all surprised. Even though it was barely eight o’clock in the morning, JD was drinking. He’d probably been half-lit for the whole three months, if the liquor bill was any indication. His brother was discriminating. He’d give him that. A bottle of fifty-year old Latour single malt Scotch was delivered to the bungalow every single day. Judging by the empties, JD was letting none of it go to waste.

“It stinks in here,” Sam complained waving a hand in front of his face to clear the dense smoke. “At least let Consuelo come in and clean up after you. She could sweep, change the sheets, dust. At least then, you could
pretend
to be human.” Sam kicked an empty bottle out of his way. It rolled over to rest against the fireplace.

“No, I’ll throw her out if she tries to change the sheets.” JD grunted as he tossed back the last quarter finger of Scotch in his glass.

“I don’t know why you’re doing this to yourself. I mean, look at this place. Look at
you
.” Sam tried to reason with him. “If you’d just talk to somebody… you know you can tell me anything, right?”

“Shut the hell up and get out!” JD’s voice thundered.

“Fine, turn yourself into some weird, crazy recluse. I don’t care. I just came to let you know Sunny Murphy is due in with the boy this afternoon after lunch.”

JD sat straight up. “Why the hell is she coming here?”

Sam shrugged. “Mother insisted she bring the kid out. She even sent Murphy a ticket. I guess the old girl’s finally feeling the tug of her own immortality. Maybe Helene wants to play grandma. Who knows?”

“Send Consuelo to me,” JD commanded. He got up and walked over to Sam. There was not even the slightest imbalance to his stride or tremor in his hands. He was cold-dead sober and intense.

“But you just said,” Sam began.

“Screw you Sam, go get Consuelo.” JD was dragging his hands through his long tangled hair.

Sam McIntyre whistled and grinned when he left the bungalow. It had only taken one mention of Sunny Murphy to light a fire under his brother. There was most likely a whole lot more going on between the two of them than either one would want known.

Five minutes later Consuelo was knocking on JD’s door. She carried a bucket filled with cleaning supplies, a mop, and fresh bed linens and towels folded over one arm. She was curious about what she’d find inside. She’d heard some very wild tales. And she was worried about Mr. JD. He was a son to her and she’d not seen him for three months. So she was somewhat prepared when the door to the bungalow was opened.

The carnage inside was to be expected. Any man, left to his own devices, would create such havoc. She knew about the liquor store deliveries, so the empty bottles everywhere were not a surprise. Even the cigarette butts didn’t shock her. Mr. JD had quit smoking once he’d worked the adolescent rebellion out of his system. But she could understand that if the man was under a great deal of stress, he might have picked the nasty habit back up.

What truly stunned the housekeeper was the state of the bed. Mr. JD had always been a stickler for a neat bed. He would make it himself if the staff didn’t get to his home early enough each morning. And he always, always insisted the sheets be changed daily. As Consuelo peered through the smoke-filled room, she was astonished to find the bed a tumbled heap of sheets.

“You are well, Mr. JD?” she asked as she bustled into the dirty sty.

“I’m fine.” His hard voice did not invite further inquiry. “I’d like you pick the place up.” He stopped and rubbed at the heavy growth of black beard hiding his face. “I’m going up to the house to get cleaned up. Can you get it done before I get back?”

“Si, of course,” the woman nodded. “I will have it clean, spic and span. And I will fix up the bed, as well.”

“No,” he barked.

Consuelo drew back in alarm. “But Mr. JD you are very, very particular about your bed. Wouldn’t you like nice clean sheets? You’ve been sleeping on these.” She stopped and pointed at the rumpled bed. “You’ve been sleeping on these for months.”

JD shook his head. “I haven’t been sleeping in the bed.”

The chubby women looked around the room in surprise. She shook her head. “Then where
have
you been sleeping?”

“I haven’t needed much sleep. And when I did, I rested on a chair… or the floor.” He didn’t like explaining himself.

“But… but it is so… so untidy.” It was the kindest word she could think of. “ I will make up the bed. This is good, no?”

JD shook his head. “No.”

“But Mr. JD,”

“Don’t touch the damned bed.” His words were chilling in their starkness.

Consuelo backed up another step. “Si, I understand. I will do as you say.”

“I’ll be back in about twenty minutes,” he said as he left.

Consuelo began her cleaning. Right before he was due back, she couldn’t help approaching the big four poster. It was true what he’d said. The bed smelled fresher than the rest of the room. Stepping closer she frowned. There was a sprinkling of rust-colored smears on the bottom sheet. It looked like dried blood. She hoped Mr. JD hadn’t done anything to hurt himself. Sighing, she turned away and gave the room one last inspection. It was clean and smelled nice. No one would ever guess it’d been a madman’s den.

In the house, JD used the master suite to shower. It once had belonged to his father. Now it was JD’s. But he rarely used it. Leanne had appropriated the massive suite when she’d stayed on the ranch before their doomed wedding. He’d regularly screwed her in his father’s bed. Doing so was his own peculiar revenge against the old man. JD’s father had ruined more women than he could count. He’d taken them right under his wife’s nose, in this very bed.

Not that Helene cared. She’d enjoyed her fair share of adultery. She’d never cared for the old man, one way or another. But she’d been decorative and cunning when she was a young woman. JD’s father had fallen for her trap. He’d married her and set her up into the life to which she desired to become accustomed. It was a fair trade on both sides.

Or so JD had always thought. Now he wasn’t so sure. After Sunny… well he couldn’t work up any interest in women. Not even women of the temporary sort. He knew Consuelo probably thought he was insane. There’d been a few times over the last months when he’d been convinced of it himself. He should have let her change the freaking sheets. He should have. But after Sunny left, the bed linen was the only thing he’d had left of her. Her scent still lingered on the pillows. Her blood marked his ultimate possession of her sweet body. It was all he had. All that kept him from truly falling into madness.