The Enemy's Son (7 page)

“You’re a lawyer and you’re helping your father with something like this?”

“They follow a different set of laws.”

“You’re saying they’re exempt from the same laws the rest of us live by?” Cora demanded, her hands on her hips as she faced him. “You’re committing a crime for them. You must realize that.”

Wow, he looked good with the green brush behind him. He fit into this wild, forest world. The sight made her pause but she quickly remembered why she was angry.

“I meant to walk away from them all, except my cousin Adam. I wasn’t going to move back to Eugene, either.”

“Then why did you?”

“For you.”

“How can you say that? You never met me. I didn’t even know you existed!”

He looked up at her. Sunlight came through the trees and landed on his face. “Adam told me what he knew about the situation, and I couldn’t let an innocent person be used like that. You’re right, I didn’t know you, but I knew what Keith had in mind. I can’t stand injustice.”

While standing, she assessed him slowly and mercilessly, but he didn’t hide from her investigative eyes.

“You can help my father, then.”

Nick stood again. “The police aren’t involved in this.”

“But they should be.”

“Let’s stick with reality here. We have no way of knowing a crime actually occurred. I can’t view the evidence or question witnesses. I have only my father’s version of events.”

“Are you saying my father has no way out of this?”

“Only if he plays by their rules. Maybe something can be done later, but right now I’m concerned for your safety. That’s the one thing I can control at this point in the game.”

Some game. “I can’t feel sorry for you because you’re stuck in the middle.”

Nick shook his head and said, “I don’t expect or want you to.”

“You can’t stay there long.”

“I have to.” His pleading face and focused eyes pulled at her heart. “I can’t help you unless I’m on Keith’s team. If I hadn’t gotten involved, you’d be out here with Alexander.”

She twisted a strand of her hair and gazed out into the tall timbers surrounding them. “My father always kept to himself and worked hard. He doesn’t deserve this. He only stayed there, working for Keith, because he wanted to see me get ahead.”

“You’re sure your father is innocent?”

She jerked around to face him. “Of course.”

He gave a nod and began pacing. Cora watched him while he mused on his own thoughts. His long body had just enough muscle to keep him from looking too skinny. He looked like a limber athlete and carried himself like one, a quarterback in high school maybe. He had a tan, perfect neck. What an odd thing to notice, she thought, but couldn’t pull her eyes away. 

 Her eyes slid up his body and then hit Nick’s eyes looking right back. Fire swept over her and consumed her, like an angry brush fire eating up dry twigs. The look in Nick’s eyes, and that one raised eyebrow, said more than any words he could have spoken. He boldly walked to her and took her hand, lightly holding her fingers. The gentle touch sent a physical reaction pumping though her.

Suddenly he leaned closer and kissed her softly on the lips. It was a quick meeting that only allowed her to feel how soft and supple his lips felt. She searched his warm eyes, looking for the truth, but instead she found him searching her as well. And she saw need. Cora didn’t take a step back as they both expected, and he brushed his lips across hers again, then stepped closer, applying more pressure. She felt dizzy with delight when his mouth slightly parted.

Push him away
, she thought, but instead kissed him back. He made a sound like
hmmm
when she met his eagerness. He reached around her, pulling her into him, against his flat stomach.

The contact ignited her desire. An ache started deep inside, racing up through her. Her body completely betrayed her and pressed into him, yearning and begging.

“No!” She pushed back away from him and turned to run back toward the cabin.

***

“Cora!” He let her go, unable to move yet. Kissing her left him shaking from the sudden and sharp physical need. And yet, she’d run from him.

How could he protect her while falling with her? He couldn’t deny how afraid she must feel, but allowing himself to know it meant he used her fear, even if he was using it to get closer to her.

Nick couldn’t back up his suspicions about Alexander’s intentions, and that put him in a static position, an unbearable position. He couldn’t make a move, not with Jerry Evans still somewhere out there on his impossible mission.

He couldn’t help Jerry, couldn’t reveal Alexander’s personal agenda to Keith, and he wasn’t sure if he could ever win Cora’s trust.

Alexander could be watching her right now. That thought was like cold water running all the way through him. He jumped to his feet and chased after her.

In the middle of the biggest crisis of her life, Cora was giving in to basic, physical need. She didn’t understand what was wrong with her. She couldn’t deny the electricity between them, but hormones meant nothing. Sexual attraction didn’t mean they could trust each other. The way he looked into her eyes didn’t mean he actually wanted to help her find her dad.

“I will not fall for him!” The man, after all, could be using her emotions to trick her into staying here with him. She felt overwhelmed . . . she couldn’t trust herself while so emotionally involved.

She rushed in the front door of the cabin and shut it firmly behind her.

How could she help her father while stuck out in the middle of nowhere? Jerry risked his life just because the Holloways had her right where they could find her. She couldn’t stay here.

Nick gave a heartfelt and earnest argument, but she couldn’t forget where he came from, who trained him. As a reporter, she needed to use her head, not just her heart. She had to listen to more than the ache growing in her for him.

“Cora?” Nick called her name on the other side of the door.

“I don’t know if I can talk to you right now.”

Imagine if he looked at her and read everything in her mind.

“Please, Cora, don’t turn your back on me. I want to help you. You’re stealing my heart.”

Stealing?
“I don’t steal, and neither does my father.”

He didn’t answer right away. Her voice sounded icy cold, even to her. But she needed that, needed to push him away.

“You’re right, bad word choice. Okay, starting over. I’m falling for you and there doesn’t seem to be anything I can do about it.”

What if he really did feel something for her? So far he hadn’t done anything to back that up besides kiss her. But… but if he did feel something, she should be able to convince him to help her.

She stepped away from the door to opened it and face him. “Prove you’re on my side. I want information and I want it now.”  

He exhaled slowly, searching her face. “Keith gave Jerry one week from last night to come up with the full missing amount.”

A week? Cora backed up from the door and let him come in. Nick was just too damn tall, and she didn’t like to look up at him while trying to argue. He followed suit when she sat down on one of the wooden chairs, but they both left the door open for light.

“Is there any chance this is just an error, a mistake in the books? My dad can fix something like that.” Cora knew she was grabbing at straws, but that seemed to be all she had.

“They tore those books apart . . . your father wouldn’t mess up drunk on a Sunday morning.”

Then how did he miss a million dollars? She wondered if there was any way her dad was guilty, but her doubt passed as quickly as it came. “Why didn’t you tell me this before?”

“I didn’t want to worry you. I’m trying to figure this out.”

“Worry me?” His judgment worried her. “Is there any possible way Jerry can get that kind of money?”

Nick gave a doubtful expression as his answer, but she didn’t need one. She asked, “Can you really keep me here?”

Despair crossed his fine features. Quietly he said, “Let’s not go that far.”

“We are that far. I’m leaving to find my father and help him. Are you coming with me or not?”

The light went dark. Nick and Cora both jumped as if a door had slammed. It was Alexander in the door.    

Completely ignoring Nick, Alexander looked at Cora and asked, “Conspiring with the enemy?”

Standing in the open doorway with the sunlight behind him, Alexander looked even more evil. Nick jumped to his feet. Cora felt sick, like she’d drank sour milk. She had almost convinced Nick!

Alexander walked in and threw his bag on the table.  “I had a feeling I couldn’t leave you two alone. So I’m going to join your little party.”

She rose, slowly and quietly, and took off for the door. Alexander grabbed her arm.

She screamed as he pulled her back, and suddenly Nick was right on top of them. “Get your hands off her!”

“Sit down,” Alexander ordered, pushing Cora over to the couch and tossing her down. Dust flew up in the air. “Both of you.”

He pulled out a gun she hadn’t noticed before waved it at Nick and then her.

Nick took three steps to the couch and sat on the edge, shielding Cora from Alexander.

“Keith doesn’t hold much trust for you, Nick, and rightly so. I can’t believe I almost left.”

He noticed the lamp then and lit it with the matches on the table, and then sat in one of the wooden chairs. She had expected to feel better with the light shining, but now she could see his face. His eyes looked black in the harsh light.

“Didn’t think to bring any magazines?” He laughed and lit a cigar, sending sickening sweet smoke into the small shack.

“What are you doing out here?” Nick asked him then.

Alexander didn’t give a reason, but asked, “What about you? I don’t believe that sorry story for one minute.”

Nothing could have hid the cold hatred the two men felt for each other. Worse than that, she didn’t think she could hide her fear from Alexander, especially since he seemed to be staring at her. Only a few minutes passed and sweat broke out on her forehead. She couldn’t even breathe.

“I need to lie down,” she said.

Nick turned to her and said her name as she rose. Alexander didn’t tell her to sit down so she walked between them, headed to the beds. At least they were behind the partition.  

She knew both Alexander and Nick watched her retreat, but somehow her wobbly legs didn’t collapse under her. Behind the wall, she slumped to the floor beside the worn out twin bed and waited.

Though they tried to keep their voices low, their efforts didn’t do much in the tiny shack. Nick didn’t hide his anger at Alexander’s arrival or his treatment of Cora, but Alexander only responded with smug remarks and hints that Keith gave Alexander more information.

If Keith didn’t trust Nick, maybe that meant that she could. His family truly had ousted him and replaced him with Alexander. However, the cold, hard fact still remained that she didn’t know if Nick only pretended to want back into his family, or if he wanted to regain his father’s confidence for real. That possibility put her in a very dangerous situation, with no one helping her and everyone using her.