Victim of Deception (8 page)

She lifted her hips until only his head remained inside, then lowered herself to take all of him again. Max continued to knead her breasts as she rode him. Her movements were easy at first, but soon gained in speed. He wanted to let her control their lovemaking. The need to pump overruled his good intentions. Holding her waist, he lifted his hips to meet each of her movements. Pleasure shimmied down his spine, straight into his balls.

Before it could peak, Karessa threw back her head and arched her back. Her pussy grabbed his cock, milking it as she came.

Her orgasm brought on his own climax. Max shoved his cock as far inside her as he could and let the pleasure engulf him.

Seconds might have passed, or maybe minutes, while Max tried to breathe normally again. He watched Karessa’s body, knowing the aftershocks of her orgasm still gripped her. She ran her hands up her thighs, over her stomach and breasts, and up into her hair. The clip fell silently to the bed. She shifted her body, drawing a soft groan from him.

The sound must have penetrated her senses, bringing her back to him. Lowering her head, she gave him her vixen’s smile.

“Very nice.”

Max squeezed her thighs. “Very.”

Leaning forward, she braced her hands on his chest. “Now that the pressure is off, so to speak, don’t you think it’s time you told me the real reason you’re here?”

G
uilt filled his eyes before he was able to mask it. Karessa waited for the excuse she knew he would give her.

“What do you mean, the real reason I’m here? I’m working for Kevin.”

“Why?”

“I’ve developed a fondness for food. I like to eat.”

“And that’s the only reason?”

“What other reason could there be?”

Smiling without a trace of humor, Karessa shook her head. “Ah, Max. You were always so good at answering a question with a question.” Her smile quickly vanished. “I don’t like it. And I don’t believe you lost all your money in bad investments. You’re too smart to put all your eggs in one basket. You may have made some bad investments, but there’s no way you’re so poor you need to be working at a construction job to eat. There’s something here, in this house, you want.”

He lifted his hips. “Yeah. I want
you
.”

“You can’t distract me with sex, Max. I want the truth
now
.”

She stared into his eyes, watching the different emotions flash through them. She saw guilt again, then concentration as if he
were trying to think up another excuse. Then she saw acceptance. That’s when she knew he would tell her the truth.

He rubbed one hand over his face. “I think there’s a bond hidden in your house.”

“A bond.”

“Yeah. A bearer bond, worth about one hundred seventy-six million.”

The amount staggered her. Her mouth dropped open. “One hundred seven—Are you sure?”

“Of the worth? Not exactly, but that’s close. Am I sure it’s here? All the research points to this house.”

She should have known he was searching for treasure again. He hadn’t come back to Fort Worth, to
her
. He’d come back for more riches.

It shouldn’t hurt so much. Her heart should have hardened after the last time he’d trampled on it. But the heart could be incredibly stupid. She’d never gotten over Max, not completely. A part of her still loved him.

A bigger part of her wished he loved her, too.

“Well, I can certainly understand why you would pretend to be poor so you could work in this house. That’s quite a prize.”

He ran his hands over her thighs. “After what we just shared, the prize doesn’t seem as important.”

Karessa lifted her hips so his cock could slip out of her. “What did we share?” she asked as she climbed off the bed.

“We made love.”

She laughed while slipping on her pants. “We didn’t make love. We fucked.”

Scowling, Max propped up on one elbow. “Don’t degrade what we did, Karessa.”

“I’m not degrading it. I’m simply stating a fact.” Not bothering with a bra, she pulled her T-shirt over her head. “You’re very
good in bed, Max. I needed a man and I used you.” She glanced at him in time to see him wince. “Does that make you feel like a whore? Well, now you know how I felt when you fucked me to steal the map from the museum.”

He scrambled off the bed, tugging up his briefs and jeans as he stood. “I didn’t steal that map.”

Karessa rolled her eyes. “Oh, excuse me. That’s right. You didn’t really ‘steal’ it. You only ‘borrowed’ it long enough to make a copy.”

He huffed out a breath and ran his fingers through his hair, but said nothing.

“What, no comeback? No justification for being a thief? At least tell me it was worth it. Tell me that map led to the treasure you just
had
to have.”

“No, it didn’t lead to any treasure.”

“So those months of taking advantage of me were for nothing.”

“I didn’t take advantage of you. Karessa, I loved you. I
still
love you.”

She threw up one hand toward him, palm forward. “Don’t you
dare
tell me you love me. You have no idea what it means to love someone.”

“I know I love you, and always will.”

Instead of his words bringing joy, they drove the knife a bit farther into her heart. “Forgive me if I don’t believe you.”

He took a step closer to her. “Karessa—”

“I want you to go now, but come back tomorrow morning. Taking that bond off my property would be grand theft, Max. Do you realize that? But I don’t care. I’ll help you find it and hand it to you in order to get you out of my life.”

“You might as well stop the storm, Mary. It isn’t working anymore.”

“I know.”

The sadness in her voice tore at Aaron’s heart. The tears shimmering in her eyes made him long to draw her into his arms and comfort her.

The sound of a raging storm disappeared, to be replaced with the gentle patter of raindrops. Aaron stood next to his wife and watched Max walk out of the house. Her plan hadn’t worked. He didn’t doubt that Karessa and Max had made love in her bedroom, although he and Mary made sure they were as far away as they could get in order to give the couple privacy. Yet they had still argued. Whatever had happened between them in the past must be too much for Karessa to forgive.

“What now?” Mary asked in a soft voice.

“I don’t know, sweetheart.”

She turned to face him. Tears still glimmered in her eyes, but he also saw determination. “I won’t give up, Aaron. They’re the key to us being together.”

“There’s nothing else you can do, Mary.”

“There’s
something
. I just haven’t figured it out yet. But I will. I promise you I will.”

The air smelled fresh from last night’s rain. Karessa inhaled deeply before taking a sip of her coffee. She’d come out to the veranda to enjoy the morning. Now sitting in the porch swing, she let her gaze sweep the acres of oak and pecan trees that she owned. The view was peaceful, comforting.

Unlike her emotions.

Her eyes still burned from crying and lack of sleep. She was angry at herself for letting Max get to her. She should have thrown him out of her house the very first day. But no, she had to fall for his sob story.

What a wimp.

She’d learned her lesson. Deep inside, she’d always hoped that Max would come back to her. She’d loved him enough to forgive him, to give him another chance. No more. She’d help him find his precious bond. She didn’t care about the money. She didn’t
need
the money. She just wanted him gone.

The sound of his pickup made her heart lurch. She hated that the knowledge she would see him soon made her body heat with desire.

Damn the man for being such an incredible lover.

She took another sip of coffee while he parked his truck. She watched him climb out of the black vehicle and saunter toward her. Her gaze fell to the impressive bulge behind his fly. Those tight, faded jeans left nothing to the imagination. Of course, she didn’t need her imagination. She knew exactly how his cock looked, felt, tasted…

“Good morning,” he said once he stood at the bottom of the steps.

Karessa cleared her throat. Damn hormones. “Good morning. There’s coffee inside, if you want some.”

“I’m fine.” He climbed up one step, then stopped. “May I join you?”

Karessa nodded. Max sat beside her and stretched his legs out in front of him. She took another sip of her coffee before setting the mug on the arm of the swing. It was time to give up on silly fantasies and get down to business. She wanted to get back to her life…a life without Max.

“I spent a lot of time last night reading my great-grandmother’s diary. I think we’ll find the location of the bond in it.”

“Karessa, you don’t have to do this. I’ll leave and—”

“No, we’re going to do this. It would be a shame for you to have come all this way and not find your treasure.”

“Damn it, you mean more to me than any treasure.”

Ignoring his declaration, Karessa opened the diary. “Let me read part of this to you. It’s dated August 2, 1925. ‘I know my mother has been searching my room again. So far, she has not found this book, or the other treasures I’ve hidden. I must make sure she does not. I want to keep writing down my thoughts, my feelings, but I must be more careful.’” She looked up at Max. “This is where she starts writing poems.”

“Poems?”

She nodded. “I assume she did that in order to hide things from her mother. This is the first one:

A bond broken, victim of deception,
The lead to a brand-new start.
Casual search, an image perfection,
A heinous conceited art.
Documented silver in the reflection,
Eternal never-ending see.
Faithful perform careful introspection,
A turn around is the key.”

Max frowned slightly. “Do you understand what that means?”

“No, but it’s important. She wrote that she had hidden treasures. Perhaps the bond is one of those treasures.”

“And perhaps the treasure is a fancy comb. She was a teenager when she wrote that.”

“It’s pretty profound for a teenager.” She closed the diary. “I assume you’ve searched for the bond.”

“A little. There are usually too many people around for me to search very much.”

“Do you have an idea where it might be?”

“It could be in the bedroom that was locked. There had to
be something important in there or it wouldn’t have been locked.”

“True. So, let’s go look.”

She stood and headed for the front door, not bothering to see if he followed her. She had no doubt he would.

“Let me grab my toolbox, Karessa.”

She waited for him at the foot of the stairs while he went into the dining room. Toolbox in hand, he followed her up the stairs to the bedroom at the end of the hall.

Aaron watched Karessa and Max approach the bedroom. “We know where that bond is.”

“But there’s no way to tell them.” Mary turned to him, her eyes wide and shining with excitement. “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if they found the bond
today
? You do realize what today is, don’t you?”

“Of course I do. But I don’t think finding the bond will bring them back together, Mary. She’s too angry at him.”

She stepped to the side when Karessa and Max entered the bedroom. “Eva killed us on this day. They’ll find the bond and it’ll bring them back together, which will let us finally be together.”

“I wouldn’t disappoint you for anything, you know that, but I’m not as sure as you.”

“Trust me, Aaron. I know I’m right.”

Karessa knelt on the floor and sat back on her heels. She didn’t want to be in Max’s way, but she intended to study everything he did. Hammer in hand, he stepped up to the wall next to the dresser. “You think it’s in the wall?”

“It could be. I thought I heard a hollow sound yesterday when I tapped on this board.”

“You mean, like a secret compartment?”

“Yeah.”

Slowly, he moved down the board, gently tapping it with his hammer. Six inches from the floor, Karessa heard a distinct difference in the sound. She looked up as Max gazed at her. Silently, she nodded.

He maneuvered the claw into the edge of the board. The wood began to splinter as he tugged on it. He stopped and gazed at Karessa again.

“Go ahead. The board can be replaced.”

Another tug with the claw and the board broke. Max tugged on the pieces until they fell to the floor. Karessa leaned forward and looked inside the wall at the same time as he.

Nothing. The wall was empty.

Max sat down, one foot resting on the floor. Karessa could clearly see the frustration in his eyes. “It’s like a sickness with you, isn’t it?”

He looked at her, his eyebrows drawn together in a frown. “What?”

“Treasure hunting. You’re addicted to it, just like someone who smokes or drinks or gambles. The adrenaline rush gets you high.”

He huffed out a breath and rubbed his mustache, yet didn’t respond to her comment.

“What now?” she asked.

“I don’t know.” Rising to his feet, he offered her his hand to help her stand. She accepted it and let him tug her to her feet. “I have this gut feeling the bond is in this room.”

“Then we’ll keep looking.”

Karessa walked over to the bed and sat down. Picking up the diary that she’d laid there earlier, she opened it to the next passage.

“My great-grandmother didn’t write any more poems for several pages.” She glanced at Max when he sat beside her, then returned her attention to the diary. “This is the next one:

Reach for one who reaches for you,
Gently touching, one becomes two.
Seeking that which seems invisible,
Breaking could be apprehensible.
Search with your heart and all will be clear,
The dark-haired hero saves the brilliant fair hair.”

“May I see that?” Max asked.

Karessa handed the book to him. She waited while he reread the poem. “What do you think?”

“Hell, I don’t know. I was never good at riddles.”

“Me either. I guess we need to…”

Karessa stopped when a bright light hit her eyes. The sun shone through the window and reflected off the dresser’s mirror. Blinking quickly, she moved her head a few inches to the side. “Wow, the sun is bright this morning.”

Max looked up from the diary. His gaze traveled from her face to the mirror and back again. “The sun?”

“Yeah. The light reflected off the mirror and hit me right in the eyes.”

“The light reflected…” He stopped. His eyes widened slightly, then he looked back at the diary. “‘Seeking that which seems invisible, breaking could be apprehensible.’” He flipped back through the pages. “Where’s that poem you read me this morning?”

“Here.” She found the spot in the diary for him. “What is it?”

“‘Documented silver in the reflection.’ She’s written about a reflection. A mirror has a reflection. And it’s supposed to be bad luck, or ‘apprehensible’ to break a mirror.”