Family Jewels (22 page)

“And the second call?”

“Was made to a real estate company, Miller–Christensen,” O’Rourke continued methodically. “The lady I spoke with, Joyce Burnett, is one of their representatives. I had to do some fancy backtalk.”

O’Rourke stretched out the word “backtalk”. Trevor bit back his automatic retort, knowing that the wily Scotsman was teasing him about knowing Cynthia’s whereabouts. “And what did the lady reveal to you?”

“I found out that Cynthia’s parents have a small summer cottage for sale, or ‘cabin’ as she called it. The property is in upper New York, about three hours’ drive from the city on Little Saranac Lake.”

“Interesting,” Trevor mused, still petting the cat. “I’m assuming since this cabin hasn’t been sold yet, that it’s vacant?”

O’Rourke whistled a merry tune. “As a matter of fact, Ms. Burnett was kind enough to let me know that the owner’s daughter would be there for a few days. If we were interested, it’s available for viewing at any time. All she had to do was call the manager to let him know. Now, I think I should make the trip to check it out, seeing as how yar busy today. The cabin sounds like a nice, quiet little place in the country. After all the excitement ya caused, I could use some rest and relaxation, ya know?”

“Ah,
mon ami
,” Trevor chuckled. “I’m the country lad, remember? You have allergies to things like grass and cows.”

“Oy! In case ya haven’t noticed, it’s winter. The grass is finally dead, covered with snow. As fer the cows, well, I try not to get too close to the drooling beasties. Besides, the pretty lass ran from ya. She smiled at me. She likes
me
.”

Their lighthearted banter served to lift Trevor’s grim mood. He scooped Cynthia’s cat up with one hand and stood. The feline purred and cuddled eagerly against his chest. Much like the woman herself. A satisfied grin tugged at the corners of his mouth. How pleased and grateful she’d be to see her pet again.

“O’Rourke, I’m holding her lost cat on my arm. If nothing else, seeing him alive and well will make her smile more than your grimy mug, trust me.”

“I’m sure of it, St. James.” O’Rourke’s dramatic sigh gusted through the phone. “Now, be careful. And be gentle with her. Do ya need anything else before ya go?”

Trevor moved to the door. “No. You do excellent work, O’Rourke. It’s always a pleasure working with you. Just give me the address and I’ll be on my way.”

Chapter Twenty

Cynthia woke with renewed resolve to fix everything currently wrong with her life. A sound night of sleep inside the snug cabin and bright morning sky helped put things back into their proper perspective.

No more running away. She had to face her problems and tackle them one at a time, or else she was no better off than a gerbil on a wheel—going nowhere, fast.

Getting rid of that damned diamond and leaving New York City had been the first step in the right direction. The next step was to buy food and supplies for her stay in the cabin. The place was still furnished but not a crumb remained to satisfy her growling stomach. She ventured into town for breakfast at a local diner and then shopping.

On her return several hours later, she silently thanked cranky Mr. Snyder for using his truck to plow a path through the resort. Not that he’d do such a task for her but it felt nice to think so. The wall of snow piled alongside the road reached up to the car’s windows. Bags of groceries and new clothes filled the backseat. From behind the protection of her new, sporty sunglasses she admired the pristine landscape surrounding the quiet, frozen lake. Tall pines drooped under the weight of snow on their bristly, green limbs. Blinding white late afternoon sunshine cast everything into stark relief. The clouds had cleared early and left the sky a spotless icy blue.

The color reminded her of Trevor’s eyes. They’d become hard and cold when she’d made the decision not to go with him yesterday. An icicle had pierced her heart when he looked at her one last time.

Cynthia dug her fingernails into the steering wheel and bit her bottom lip hard. A tight twist of guilt and regret hitched in her chest whenever she thought of him. It would go away.
It would
! She’d forget all about Trevor St. James, Interpol Agent. Soon. She just needed to stay busy, to focus on her ring design for the contest. Working would do that. How many times had she forgotten what day of the week it was when she was working? The sketchpads and art supplies she bought at the craft store in town would provide all the sustenance her aching heart needed.

A carton of premium-quality ice cream and two bottles of Merlot tucked inside her groceries would soothe her mind for a few days, at least. She’d figure out what to do about the empty ache inside her body later.

Cynthia parked in front of the cabin. She juggled her keys and two paper bags of groceries to the door. When she tried to insert the key, the door pushed open.

Hadn’t she locked the front door before she left this morning? Was she really becoming so absentminded she’d forget simple things like that?

She glanced around and noticed for the first time the porch and footpath had been shoveled free of snow. The old, rusty snow shovel leaned against the wall. Despite her earlier desire to shovel the walkway, she hadn’t yet. Would Mr. Snyder do that? She scoffed. It was hardly his nature. She felt lucky when he’d plowed the road to the cabin.

Stricken with indecision and a renewed sense of caution, Cynthia stood at the door for a moment longer. She jostled her grocery bags to get a better grip on them and looked around the front yard. No other cars, no sign of anyone else. She blew out a long breath into the frosty air. Her overactive imagination would relax once she got everything inside and locked the world out.

Pushing the door all the way open, Cynthia stepped in and stamped her boots on the latch hook rug she’d made with her mom one summer. She pocketed her keys and set her grocery bags down on the floor. A crackling fire blazed in the fireplace. She removed her sunglasses and stared at the flames. There hadn’t been any firewood last night.

“Mr. Snyder? Are you in here?”

Meow-ow-ow
.

A white cat ran toward her, tail high.

“Moses?” Cynthia blinked to be sure he wasn’t just an apparition. “Mo! Oh my God! Mo-Mo. Oh, my baby. You’re alive. You’re safe.”

She dropped to her knees and held her arms open wide. Moses jumped into them. She hugged him, snuggled her face into his soft fur, planted kisses on his furry head and paws. “Thank you, God. Mo, how the hell did you get here? Oh, I don’t care, I don’t care. I’m just so glad to see you again.”

Mo’s purr couldn’t get any louder. He dug his claws into her coat and clung to her with all his feline strength. Cynthia stood up slowly, deliriously happy to have her cat back safe and sound. Then, little by little, she realized how improbable it was for Moses to have walked here by himself. Someone must have brought him.

Still hugging Moses close, she took another step inside. She looked behind her. The door stood open. Her car was near, the keys in her pocket. A clammy finger of fear inched up her spine and refused to go away.

Paul? No, he was still traveling on business. She’d left him a message but would he be able to get here so fast? Could it be one of the police detectives? No. They didn’t know about the cabin and wouldn’t have cared about her cat if they found him. So, who?

Trevor would be on a plane by now heading back to England. His job here was done. He’d forget about her in a few days if he hadn’t already done so.

“Hello?” she called out, trying to put some force into her voice. “Mr. Snyder? Is anyone here?”

Hearing nothing except for the popping of logs in the fire, Cynthia inched into the living room. From the corner of her eyes a shadow moved through the long, dark hallway. She stopped, heart crammed in her throat, hugging the cat so tightly that he meowed in protest.

“Sorry, baby,” she whispered to him. “Hello? Who’s there? Whoever you are, you’re trespassing on pri…”

He looked like a dream coming from the dark into the light. She held her breath. The tall, masculine figure walking toward her was instantly recognizable, as was the deep, sexy voice with the British accent.

“Hello, darling.”

Moses scrambled out of her arms from the death grip she unwittingly applied to him. Cynthia felt rooted to the floor, arms suddenly empty. “Trevor?”

“Yes. Were you expecting someone else?”

A part of her was elated to see him. Another part quaked in fear. “Trevor. I thought… How did…?” Breath gusted from her lips. “I don’t know what to say.”

“Ah, well then. Words aren’t necessary just yet.” He lifted a pair of handcuffs from one finger and dangled them in the air.

All the blood in her body dropped to her feet. Did he plan to arrest her? Panic stabbed inside her brain like a white-hot poker. She backed up. “Moses, come here, baby. We’re leaving.”

The cat meowed and wandered farther away. Cynthia spun around and ran for him. She intended to grab him and flee but the cat had other ideas. He zipped past her and ran to the kitchen, stopping right beside Trevor.

A gleam of triumph danced in Trevor’s eyes. “Good puss.”

Panic turned to anger. She had to leave or she’d explode from too many emotions boiling inside her. He followed with those handcuffs glinting in the light. On a spurt of alarm she ran through the living room.

Trevor gave chase, vaulting over the edge of the sofa. Only steps ahead of him, Cynthia leaped over the grocery bags she’d left on the floor and dashed out into the bright sunlight. Blinded for a moment, her boots skidded on the slick, compacted snow. She slid into the car. She scrambled upright and closed her fingers on the door latch. Trevor tackled her from behind, locking his arms tight around her body. Breath whooshed out of her lungs. Her feet left the ground. The world spun up and around like a carnival ride.

With his greater weight and strength Trevor took her down into the snow. She landed on top of him, buffered from the fall by the firm length of his body. Before she could catch her breath he rolled and pinned her on the bottom. Icy snow billowed around her head and inside her coat. The cold stuff clung to her face and throat.

He shackled her wrists with his large hands and straddled her thighs, kneeling in the snow. She tried to dislodge him, bucking and squirming fiercely but only ended up giving herself a pinching pain in her lower abdomen. His face loomed close, eyes dark, with a slightly crooked grin on his mouth that smacked of triumph.

“Let. Me. Up!” She struggled against him with each word.

“What’s this? No undying gratitude for bringing your cat to you?”

“Get off me!”

“Not until you calm down and stop trying to run away.”

She stopped fighting, panting heavily from the nearly toxic mix of adrenaline, fear, shock and anger pumping through her blood. All she had the power to do was glare at him. Being captured and half buried in the snow was a highly undignified position to be in.

“How’d you find me?”

Trevor’s blue-flame gaze burned into hers. Dark hair tousled over his forehead, nearly touching his eyebrows. His skin was slightly flushed and his lips curved up, as if he enjoyed her struggles. She knew then what it felt like be prey caught in the grip of a cunning predator. And amid the panic a tiny thrill of excitement sparked and flickered inside her.

“Cyn, Cyn.” He made a
tsking
noise. “You made two calls from my hotel room phone, remember? They were easy enough to trace.”

That hadn’t occurred to her at all. Her heart sank another notch. “
Shit
. My real estate agent told you where I’d be? I’ll fire her ass for this!”

“Now, now, darling—”

She braced against him, grunting from the exertion. “Don’t ‘darling’ me!”

He tightened his hold on her wrists. Cynthia winced and he softened his steely grip. “I didn’t speak with her, O’Rourke did. There’s no need to fire your real estate agent. After all, it’s not entirely her fault. O’Rourke charmed the socks off the unsuspecting woman. That’s one of his great skills as a support agent. She didn’t give him the address. That was easy enough to find on the internet from the basic information she did give.”

“Oh.” Chill seeped into her body from the bed of snow she lay in. She started to shiver. Despite the stiffening of her muscles, she felt a softening inside her heart toward Trevor. It was truly thrilling to see him again, especially when she’d thought she never would. And he’d rescued her cat, too. He had to get a few brownie points for that.

“Where’d you find Moses?”

His grin widened. He looked thoroughly pleased. “I met your lovely gray-haired neighbor, Mrs. Perkins. She found him the night of your break-in and has been taking care of him until your return.”

Cynthia stared, slack-mouthed. “Really? Well, that was nice of her. I didn’t even know she liked cats.”

“Apparently she does.” Trevor nodded, grinning. “As far as I can tell your kitty’s in good health.”

Her anger dissolved like the ice on a pond beneath a warm, spring sun. Slowly her mind began forming coherent thoughts again. “So, where’d you park? I didn’t see your car, or I would have driven right on out of here.”

“I know that.” His eyebrows dropped ominously. “That’s why I took great pains to hide the car. Now, let’s try these on for size, shall we?” Trevor brought her wrists together, held them with one hand and whipped out the handcuffs from his back pocket with the other. Before she could blink or realize what he intended, he locked them in place around her wrists.

“What are you doing?” she squeaked, eyes going wide.

“I’m not taking any chances you’ll run off again. Let’s get you up and warmed inside. Did you buy any coffee while you were shopping? Nice little cottage, by the way. Very cozy. But I couldn’t find a damned thing to eat or drink inside the place.”

“Coffee, yes, I bought some. The cabin’s been vacant for almost a year, that’s why there’s no food. I have several more bags in the car.” She threw her cuffed wrists in his face. “Now take these off!”

“
Non
,
ma chéri
.” His grin looked entirely too hungry for her liking at this point. “I’ve a few things in mind for you and those cuffs will work nicely with what I’ve got planned. Starting with this.”