Star Bright (25 page)

Rainie would have preferred rudeness to this.

“It mostly happens only when I touch someone who has been through something terrible,” Loni went on to explain. “I used to hate it, and deny it, and even tried to run from it at one point, but now I’ve come to accept that it’s a gift, something I’m supposed to use to help others.” Her larynx bobbed as she struggled to swallow. Her eyes went misty with heartfelt appeal. “Not everyone accepts; not everyone believes. I hope you aren’t going to be one of those people, Rainie, because you are in desperate need of help.”

Rainie shook her head. “I’ve never believed in clairvoyants. But you know things about me—things you couldn’t have found out any other way. You’re obviously very gifted.”

Loni looked away, a distant expression entering her eyes as she gazed out the window. “Oh, I’m gifted, all right. My gift is so powerful that it nearly ruined my life. Until I met Clint, I thought of it as a curse.” She took a deep breath and slowly released it. “When I touched you, I linked in with Peter.”

Still struggling to accept that this woman was a genuine psychic, Rainie said, “With Peter, did you say? I’m afraid I don’t understand.”

“I got inside his head,” Loni expounded. “I’m sure I don’t need to tell you how evil the man is.” Shivering as though she were chilled, she turned her gaze back to Rainie. “Tapping into his thought processes made me feel as if I were immersed in ice water. I’ve felt that kind of evil only once before, when I looked into the eyes of a serial killer.”

Rainie lowered her gaze to her lap, remembering the madness in Peter’s eyes when he grew violent.

“He’s a heartless and very cunning predator,” Loni said shakily. “He seeks out young women who’ve inherited money and lures them in like hapless little fish.”

Rainie winced. The similitude of that description rankled, and yet she couldn’t deny its truth. Peter had thrown out the bait, and she’d stupidly allowed him to lure her in.

“You mustn’t blame yourself for being duped by him. He’s a master of deception.”

Rainie glanced up, feeling as if her every thought and emotion had been laid bare. “How can you possibly know that I blame myself?”

Loni looked quickly away, her expression chagrined. “I know everything. I’m sorry. It’s an unforgivable invasion of your privacy. Just please believe I didn’t do it on purpose.” She turned up her palms, the gesture one of abject apology. “Have you ever downloaded software onto a really fast computer?”

“Yes.”

“Well, that’s what happens, sort of, little files of information transferring into my brain in the space of a nanosecond. That’s why it shakes me up so badly. Too much, too fast—feelings, thoughts, memories, pummeling me from all directions. It takes a few seconds for all of it to settle in.”

Rainie couldn’t imagine such a thing. “So what exactly do you know about me?” she couldn’t resist asking. “You say ‘everything,’ but that covers a lot of ground. Surely some of my memory folders remained inviolate.”

Loni laughed softly. “Sorry. For a hacker like me, your firewall has a hole in it the size of a semi truck. I know that Peter has made you doubt yourself, and you’re terrified of getting involved in another relationship. You really aren’t a rotten judge of character, you know. You’ve got good instincts about people, and you need to learn to trust in them again.”

Rainie passed a trembling hand over her brow.

“Peter is very handsome,” Loni went on, “almost princely with that golden hair and aristocratic face. He’s also extremely charming and adept at assuming whatever mask he must in order to make a young woman fall in love with him. You weren’t his first victim.” Her eyes got that blank look again, and her face lost color. “There were two others, smart, beautiful, and wealthy. He lured them in, got control of their money, and then murdered them in cold blood, the first with small amounts of poison administered over a period of weeks, the second in a car accident, which he orchestrated by hiring a thug to tamper with her brakes.”

The room seemed to tilt. Rainie gripped the arms of her chair, afraid she might topple from her seat. “Oh, God, it’s really true that he killed them, then?”

Loni searched Rainie’s gaze. “You know he did. For you, that’s one of the hardest things for you to accept, that you can never resurface and bring him to justice for what he did to them.”

“I hoped . . .” Rainie shook her head. Her throat felt vapor locked. When she could finally speak again, her voice came out as little more than a whisper. “Even knowing firsthand what he’s capable of, I still hoped he might have told me the story about killing them only to frighten me, an attempt to make me stay with him. I did Internet searches and verified that his first two wives did indeed die mysteriously, but a part of me couldn’t accept that he’d actually murdered them. They were so young. How could he do that to them?”

“He did it for their money,” Loni answered. “He ended their lives and walked away with every cent. No remorse, no trace of conscience. Some people are born with no compassion, and the evil in their natures takes over. Peter Danning is a very sophisticated, highly intelligent serial killer. You weren’t his first victim, and unless he’s stopped, you won’t be his last. He feeds on the thrill of it. Pulling it off without getting caught makes him feel smugly superior. He honestly believes he’s a cut above ordinary people, and everyone, in his opinion, is ordinary except him.”

In that same resigned tone, Loni continued. “He searches long and hard for his victims, you know. When he finds a likely candidate, he digs up every tidbit of information he can about her past to compile a profile on her. He wants no unexpected surprises. His favored targets are young, lonely women without any immediate family. Your profile suited his purposes perfectly, and he set out to become your dream man.”

Rainie had suspected for a long while that Peter had scammed her from the start.

“You interviewed on campus career day with a scout from Barrestol International,” Loni droned on. “But you never in a million years thought you might get an offer from such a huge, sought-after company. You couldn’t believe it when you answered your cell phone one afternoon a couple of weeks later and Peter Danning introduced himself. When he offered you an internship as his personal assistant, you thought it was the opportunity of a lifetime.” Loni pressed her fingertips to her temple, her gaze growing unfocused again, as if she were eavesdropping on a distant conversation. “When you got off the phone, you grabbed your friend Maggie and danced around the room, so happy and excited that you could barely talk.”

Rainie remembered that moment. It had seemed like a dream come true, only it had been the beginning of a nightmare instead.

Loni still had that distant look in her eyes. “You went for the interview. Peter charmed you. He was so handsome and polished. You were already falling a little in love with him before you even accepted the job.” Loni sat back on the chair. “Now, when wonderful things happen to you, your motto is, ‘If it seems too good to be true, run like hell.’”

Rainie’s chin trembled. Since meeting Parker, that motto had been a singsong in her mind numerous times. He was too good to be true on all counts.

“What are you going to do with this information?” Rainie forced herself to ask again. “No offense or anything, but I can’t help but feel terrified, not only for myself, but also for my friends.”

“The ones who helped you escape?”

“You know about that, too, then?”

Loni nodded.

“They put their necks on the chopping block for me,” Rainie pushed out. “I won’t plead for myself, but I will for them. If you turn me in, please don’t mention their involvement.
Please.
”

Loni held up a hand. “Rainie, I told you that I won’t turn you in, and I meant it.”

“If you don’t, and Peter finds me, you could be charged with a crime yourself. Have you thought of that? You’d be protecting a criminal.”

“You’re a victim, not a criminal, and getting in trouble for protecting you isn’t a huge worry for me. I work with several law enforcement agencies, including the FBI.”

“What?”
Another wave of dizziness washed over Rainie. “Oh,
God.
”

“Don’t panic. I’m not a cop. They utilize my gift to help them solve crimes, mostly child abduction cases. Trust me when I say that they’ve come to believe in my abilities. If I were to give them the dirt on Peter Danning, they wouldn’t hesitate to take it as gospel, and they definitely wouldn’t come after me for trying to help you.”

Rainie was shaking now. How could she trust this woman to keep her word? She was in contact with the authorities, possibly on an everyday basis. With one slip of the tongue, she could destroy Rainie’s life.

“I know it’s difficult for you to let your guard down again,” Loni said, “but if ever I’ve known anyone who needs friends, Rainie, it has to be you. What if Peter finds you?”

“You’re a psychic, and you don’t know for sure if he will or not?”

“I can’t always see into the future. Sometimes I see things that are happening right now, sometimes things that are going to happen, and sometimes things that occurred in the past. I’ve gotten better lately at controlling the visions, but they can still come to me willy-nilly. So, no, I’m not yet sure if Peter will find you. Having said that, though, I will warn you that he’s obsessed and trying his damnedest.” She paused, smoothing her palms over her knees. “You can’t run again, Rainie. Please promise me you won’t. You’re safer here with Parker and, by extension, with the rest of us. The Harrigans are wonderful people. If you come clean, they won’t hang you out to dry. Go to Parker. Tell him everything. Trust him to come through for you.”

Rainie pushed to her feet so suddenly that Mojo’s teeth caught in her skirt, making him yelp. “Oh, sweetie.” With shaking hands, she picked up the puppy. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

Mojo gave her an injured look and then buried his nose in the hollow of her neck. Stroking his soft fur, Rainie went to stand at the window. The very thought of coming clean made her quake with fright.
Parker
. She knew that he was developing feelings for her. He’d be furious when he found out that she’d told him so many lies, either flat-out or by omission. She also needed to think about the consequences for him if she told him the whole story and he tried to protect her. Knowingly harboring a criminal was a serious offense.

“I need some time to think,” she told Loni. “What seems simple to you isn’t so simple for me.”

“It might be easier if you could turn loose of all that self-doubt. Just because you trusted the wrong person once doesn’t mean that you’re doomed to misjudge people again and again. Parker is one of the most loyal, kind, and honest men I’ve ever known. You haven’t made a mistake by letting yourself fall in love with him.”

Rainie turned and held up a hand. “Hold on. I care about Parker as a friend, but that’s as far as it goes.”

“Love is the most powerful emotion on earth,” Loni replied with a smile as she stood up. “You can’t fight it, so don’t try. He loves you, too, you know.”

“He may think that right now, but how is he going to feel when he finds out I’m married? That isn’t to mention that I’ve broken the law and will go to prison if I ever resurface. What have I got to offer him but trouble and complications?” Rainie drew Mojo closer and rested her cheek against his softness. “Parker detests liars. When he finds out the truth about me, he’ll be absolutely furious.”

“Wrong. He’ll do everything in his power to help you. I know he will.”

“At what cost to himself?” Still clinging to the puppy, Rainie began to pace. “Where I come from, it isn’t okay to hurt your friends. Peter is my problem, not Parker’s.”

Loni’s eyes went soft with understanding. “Caring for him that much, how you can tell yourself that you’re not in love with him?”

Rainie wanted to argue the point, but she was too exhausted and drained. Besides, Loni was right. Rainie was coming to care very deeply for Parker Harrigan. She just wasn’t quite ready to bring the feeling out into the sunlight and examine it. “Caring for him only strengthens my resolve to leave. If I stay here, I might ruin his life.”

“Parker’s a big boy. Let him decide if he wants to take that chance.”

“He won’t understand how ruthless Peter is.”

“Do you mistakenly believe that Parker can’t be just as ruthless if a situation calls for it? Don’t let that laid-back, country-boy manner of his fool you. He’s as tough as a pine knot and sharp as a tack. Peter is wealthy and very influential. I’ll give him that. And I can understand your fear of him. Just remember one thing: This isn’t Seattle. It’s Harrigan territory. Don’t underestimate Parker—or this family. If Peter shows his face around here, his ass will be grass, and Parker will be a lawn mower.” At Rainie’s startled look, Loni smiled and shrugged. “Sorry. After a time, the Harrigan figures of speech have a way of rubbing off on you. Maybe I should say that Peter will be a mud hole, and Parker will stomp him dry.”

Rainie could almost hear Parker saying that. She rubbed her cheek against the top of Mojo’s head. The puppy had fallen asleep, a warm, limp bundle tucked under her chin. “As I said, I need to think about it.”

“Just don’t think about it too long.” Loni turned for the door. “I won’t say anything to anyone about this, not even to Clint. You have my word. It’s your life, after all. But in my opinion, going to Parker is the only smart choice you can make.” After placing her hand on the doorknob, Loni turned her dark head to look back. “Trust him. I know you’re scared. I know it’s hard. But I’d bet my last dollar that he won’t let you down. Peter Danning’s high-priced investigator could locate you at any time, and the next thing you know, Peter will be setting you up to have a fatal accident or to become the victim of a random act of violence. If you don’t believe me—if you refuse to listen—you could die. Don’t do that to me. Okay? I can’t take that again.”

The pain in Loni’s expression told Rainie that someone, at some point, hadn’t listened and had died as a result. The thought filled her with cold terror. She remembered the night that Peter had almost thrown her over the balcony railing, how frantically she’d fought to survive. To this day, she didn’t know what had stopped him. It certainly hadn’t been her superior strength. Now this woman was telling her that Peter might be only one step behind her.

“I’m scared,” Rainie blurted out. “I’m so
scared
. You just can’t know.”

“Oh, but I
do
know, Rainie. I
saw
. Peter Danning is a monster, and he will never let you go. He has to make certain that you’re dead. That’s why he hired the private investigator, because he suspects that you aren’t, and if he allows you to remain alive, you might decide to take your chances with the law and file for divorce someday. You’d be able to take half of his assets. He killed two women to attain that wealth. He’ll never let you get your hands on a penny of it.”

“A good amount of that money is
mine
—my inheritance from my father.”

“Do you think he cares? It’s his money now. You’ve inconvenienced him with your little disappearing act. That’s how he sees it, you know, as an irritating inconvenience that he now has to rectify.”

Every word Loni said rang true. Peter was just that cold and ruthless. “I don’t know what to do.”

“Ask Parker. Peter’s investigator is going over passenger logs as we speak. Even if it takes him a while to find you, how long do you think it will take before he discovers that your best friend, Janet, works for that cruise line and frequently works aboard the
Ocean Jewel
?”

Rainie stared at the closed door for a very long time after Loni exited the office.

Parker was in Montana’s stall wrapping the stallion’s injured hind leg when Rainie entered the enclosure. He’d seen her feed Montana treats from the opposite side of the gate, but she was still a little too nervous with equines to give up the safety barrier. Or so he’d thought. Now, here she was, standing behind him in an occupied stall, bold as brass.

He straightened from his task and turned. The moment he settled his gaze on her, his heart jerked. She looked as if someone had just punched her in the solar plexus and almost collapsed her lungs. Her chest heaved with every jagged breath she took. Her face was stark white, her eyes huge puddles of hazel against her pale skin. But what really grabbed hold of him was her mouth. It quivered convulsively, which told him she was clinging to her composure by sheer force of will.

“What?” he asked with an edge in his voice.

He immediately regretted the sharpness of his tone. It just frightened him to see her like this. She had solid ground under her feet, but she stood with her boots set wide apart, as if she were bracing herself for a magnitude-six earthquake.

“I’m in trouble,” she said thinly. “Why didn’t you warn me not to shake her hand? Now she knows everything.”

Parker went over that like a drunk presented with an algebraic equation. What the hell? “I’m sorry, honey. I’m not followin’.”

Her thin shoulders lifted in a helpless shrug. “Loni. I let her touch me, and now she knows all of it.
All
of it, Parker.”

Parker had been treated to Loni’s unsettling ability to divine personal details about his past by merely touching his hand. He’d just never stopped to think that the same thing might happen to Rainie. “Oh,
no
.”

“Oh,
yes
!” she cried. “She came over this morning to meet me.” She pressed trembling fingertips to the base of her throat. “I shook hands with her, and now she knows everything about me, Parker! Why on earth didn’t you
warn
me?”

“I should have. I’m sorry. I just didn’t think.”

“You didn’t
think
? My whole life could be destroyed, and you didn’t
think
? You’ve known from the start that my real name isn’t Anna Pritchard. Did it never occur to you that maybe I have secrets I don’t want other people to know?” She cupped a hand over her eyes. “Oh, God. I’m sorry. It’s not your fault. I shouldn’t be yelling at you. It’s just . . . I’m just so scared. I can barely think straight.”

“She won’t tell anyone what she saw,” Parker assured her.

“Her telling someone isn’t my only worry,” she informed him shrilly. “She says he’s about to find me.”

Parker’s stomach dropped. “Peter, you mean?”

Her eyes welled with tears, and he felt as if he were drowning in the pain he saw there. “I’m scared, Parker. I am so scared. If he finds me, he’ll kill me.” Her mouth finally lost the battle and began to quiver so violently that her chin got into the act. “He killed his first two wives. And now he’ll kill me.”

Parker dropped the roll of bandages on the stall floor. Rainie wasn’t keeping her voice down, and he was afraid someone in the stable might hear her. “Toby!” he shouted. “I need you over here.”

When his stout, aging foreman appeared at the stall gate, Parker clasped Rainie’s elbow and steered her from the enclosure. To his foreman, he said, “I’ve got business. Take over for me, would ya?”

“Sure, boss,” Toby said.

Parker barely heard him. He was too focused on the violent trembling of Rainie’s body as he guided her across the arena to the personnel door. When they spilled outside, she flicked a tear-filled glance at him. “Where are we going?”

Damned if he knew. “To the house, I guess. No one can overhear us there.”

She stumbled, and he barely managed to catch her from falling. As upset as she was, Parker wasn’t surprised that she lost her footing on the uneven ground, but when she bumped against him and didn’t jerk away like an offended virgin, he found it alarming. It told him just how shaken up she actually was. She leaned in as if he were her only anchor in a storm. Afraid she might trip again, he curled his arm around her shoulders, pulling her even closer.

“Talk to me, darlin’. Why does Loni think Peter’s about to find you?”

“He’s hired a private investigator,” she said shakily. “They’ve checked the passenger logs, and now the investigator is trying to locate me. It won’t be long before he discovers that my friend Janet works for the cruise line. Once that comes to light, he’ll quickly figure out that she boarded the ship with a fake ID, pretending to be the new me.”

None of this was clicking for Parker. Cruise line? Janet? Pretending to be the new Rainie? Maybe he was just dense, but he felt as if he’d opened a book at the middle and couldn’t make sense of the convoluted plot. He quickened his footsteps, wanting to get Rainie to the house as fast as possible. She needed a double jigger of bourbon to calm her down. Maybe then she would start making sense.

Once in the kitchen, Parker led her to a chair. The moment she sank onto the seat, she covered her face with trembling hands. “I’m married,” she said, her voice squeaky and thin. “No divorce. I need to get that said. I’m so sorry, Parker. I should have told you, but I just couldn’t.”

He stepped to his kitchen liquor cabinet and jerked out a jug of Jameson. “I’m not stupid, Rainie. I figured as much.” After grabbing a tumbler, he poured her two fingers of whiskey, which, with his thick digits, was a hefty jot. Walking to the table, he added, “And excuse me for pointin’ it out, but that mess wasn’t a marriage. A sentence in hell, more like. Do you think God blesses a union like that? You let me put bars on your bedroom windows and reinforce the door. You’re terrified of the bastard. Do you think any promise you ever made to him could be sacred in any way? He ended the sanctity the first time he hit you. You’re contractually bound to him, yes, but that’s it.”

He slapped the tumbler down in front of her, making her jump. He felt instantly sorry. Sometimes he forgot how timid she was—and all the many reasons she undoubtedly had for being timid. That was especially true when he was mad, and right now, he was flat pissed, not because of anything she’d done, but because she was so scared. Parker itched for the chance to knock What’s-his-name’s teeth down his throat.

He sat down across from her. “Bottoms up, sweetheart.” He inclined his head at the whiskey. “Every sensible Irishman’s cure for rattled nerves. Works like a charm. I guarantee it’ll calm you down.”

She looked at the glass as if it had magically appeared in front of her. Then she blinked and returned her gaze to his. “You knew? That I’m still married?”

“I suspected.” He rocked back on the chair, studying the sweet contours of her face and wondering when, precisely, every precious line had become engraved on his heart. “Your bein’ married doesn’t matter. Not a whit. I love you, anyway.” He hadn’t meant to say that. He was definitely the old man’s progeny. His mouth always engaged before his brain did. “And just for the record, there’s absolutely no reason for that to alarm you. I meant what I said about us bein’ nothin’ more than friends, and I’ll be content with that for however long I have to be.” He paused to let that sink in. “I’ll also point out that there’s no reason for you to feel afraid of Peter. If he ever touches a hair on your head again, I’ll kill him.”

Her already wet eyes welled with sparkling tears. “You don’t know it all. I’ve done a terrible thing.”

“What?” Parker almost smiled, because he couldn’t picture Rainie ever doing anything truly horrible. She didn’t have it in her. “Let me guess. You tried to stab the son of a bitch with the scissors.”

“No.” Her throat worked as she struggled to swallow. “I killed myself.”

Parker mentally circled that one for a long moment. “Come again?”

“I killed myself. A huge, elaborate hoax. He wanted to take me on a cruise, and I knew he meant to murder me during the trip and throw me overboard. I couldn’t just go along with that like a lamb being led to slaughter. So, instead, I pretended to be oblivious, went on the cruise, and beat him to the punch.” She reached for the tumbler and gulped down some of the whiskey, which brought even more tears to her eyes. “He’d figured out that I wanted to leave him. That was what started the whole cruise thing. That was my fault, I guess. Him finding out that I meant to leave him, I mean. Looking back on it, I don’t know what I was thinking. I was just so upset when I couldn’t liquidate the investments that I had to confront him.”

“Whoa.” Parker held up a hand. “Back up, honey. You’re losin’ me. What investments?”

“The ones he made for me with my inheritance money from my father’s estate. When things got really bad, and I realized I had no choice but to run, I needed to sell the stocks so I’d have some money to get away. Only I couldn’t touch the investments because he had them all under only his name. My own money, and I couldn’t get my hands on a single cent!”

Her story still seemed a bit muddled to Parker, but he decided to sit back, hear her out, and hope that the picture finally came clear for him.

“After I confronted him about the investments, he demanded to know why I had been looking at his portfolio. I couldn’t give him a reason without telling him that I needed my money to get away from him. He put two and two together, though, and figured it out. He flew into a horrible rage, dragged me out to the balcony, and almost threw me over the railing. To this day, I don’t know what stopped him. Maybe he realized at the last second that killing me that way wouldn’t look like an accident. After changing his mind, he wrapped his hands around my throat and swore that he’d see me dead before he would ever let me go. In order to convince me that he meant it, he informed me that his first two wives had made the mistake of trying to leave him, too, and he had killed them before they could file for divorce.”