Secrets and Seduction: 5 Romance Novels (19 page)

“That one did not set my Marisa aflame,” Anjelita whispered from beside him.

“What one?”

“Kevin.” Anjelita nodded at the blonde man talking to people as he made his way to the door.

Nick wasn’t about to tell Marisa’s mother he was sleeping with her. “Flame burns. Marisa learned that this morning.”

“Where you were with her, in her apartment, in her bed.”

Whoops. “Anjelita … ”

“You make her burn. I see it when she looks at you, and you at her.”

He was uncomfortable talking about what amounted to an affair, although this woman had carried on a twenty-six-year affair with Marisa’s father. Who better to understand? “I care for her a great deal.”

“Yet you will hurt her.”

“Yes. I don’t want to, but I have to go back to work.” He’d thought there’d never be anything as compelling as his job. But then he’d met Marisa.

“Your work gives your life meaning.”

He nodded. “Yes, very much.”

“Marisa told me how much your work hurt you.”

It surprised him that Marisa had discussed him in depth with her mother. “Not hurt exactly.”

Anjelita nodded. “You are a hero. You need to save people.”

“Yes.” He’d always thought of himself as a hero, but he seemed so flawed lately.

“My Marisa is a hero too.”

He looked at the topic of their discussion, so beautiful in a sheer over satin navy pantsuit someone had loaned her. “She is indeed.”

“Perhaps you need a hero.”

Confused, Nick turned to Marisa’s mother, but she had already stepped away. What had she meant?

They took a short supper break, where Nick saw to it that Marisa ate a sandwich. She gave him a weak smile. He wished they were alone so he could take her in his arms and comfort her, but this was stolen time. He could hear the mourners in the hall waiting for her to return.

The hours dragged on. At the time the wake was scheduled to end, mourners were still lined up to the door. The local mortuary told Marisa they would delay until everyone had paid their respects.

Around eight o’clock, the last of the mourners hugged Marisa. As the woman walked away, Marisa drooped. As though that was the signal, the morticians came to close the casket, murmuring low words to Marisa as they handled her sister’s body.

Nick moved forward and took Marisa’s hand. “Let’s go home.” The need to take care of her overwhelmed him.

She nodded. “I’m glad everyone had a chance to say good-bye. Carolyn was well-liked.”

“It runs in the family.”

She frowned at him, confusion on her face.

Nick tucked her hand into the crook of his arm and tugged her toward the door. “I meant, you’re well-liked and your father was too.”

“Oh.”

She looked so lost. He said in a gentle voice, “You’re tired.”

“Not too tired.” She gave him a weak smile, her meaning clear.

“I hope not.” He needed tonight with her, to hold her and keep despair at bay.

They gathered Anjelita at the door. But a Latino man in his late twenties blocked their path. His face was ravaged by grief, his black hair unkempt, with dark circles under his eyes.

“Eddie!” Marisa said. “This is no place for you. Not so soon after Elizabeth.”

So this was the husband of the woman floating in the Easterling’s pond. No wonder he looked haggard.

“I had to come. My Elizabeth, she … ” He sobbed, and then visibly rallied with a deep breath. “It was wrong, what we did, and she was taken from me because of it. I knew it was wrong to do.”

Nick moved closer to Marisa. He didn’t think he was going to like Eddie’s confession.

“What did you do, Eddie?” Marisa asked.

“That Wentworth had to be stopped. I knew there’d be no buyer for the plant if there were trouble. So I made trouble.” Eddie hung his head.

“Oh, Eddie.”

“It was me. Elizabeth told me it wasn’t right to make the plant lose money, even for a day. That’s our honest labor at the plant. We work hard. But I was afraid. I heard the Chinese were going to make an offer. I couldn’t think of anything else to do to stop that from happening. I asked Elizabeth to spy on Wentworth. I didn’t know the storm would be that bad. So she drowned and it was all my fault. My gram says God punished me for doing something evil. I’m so sorry.” He wept again.

Marisa laid her hand on his arm. “God didn’t punish you, Eddie. It was a terrible accident. But you know the mayor and the sheriff want the name of who’s behind the trouble at the plant. You should turn yourself in.”

“I know. I had to tell you first, now that you own the plant.” He swiped at his cheeks with a red handkerchief.

“That’s not for sure yet.”

“You’re Easterling’s daughter. No judge is going to give Easterling property to Wentworth instead of you.”

Marisa didn’t argue with him. “Have you got someone to go with you to the sheriff’s office?”

He gave a slow shake of his head. “I got into this mess all by myself. I won’t ask anyone else to be seen with me. Besides, with Elizabeth gone, I just don’t care about anything anymore.”

“She wouldn’t want that, Eddie. She’d want you to pay the debt you owe and get back on track again.”

“I can’t think about her right now. It hurts too much.” Eddie turned and walked away. His shoulders were hunched.

“Thanks for telling me, Eddie,” Marisa said, her voice carrying.

“Did you want to go with him?” Nick asked.

“Yes, but he wouldn’t appreciate it.”

“He will need his family by him afterwards,” her mother said.

Marisa looped her arm through her mother’s. “I’ll drive you home.”

“How about if I drive you both?” Nick asked.

Marisa shook her head. “I need my car in the morning.”

“Okay. I’ll see you in a few minutes.” He looked at Anjelita, who had a twinkle in her eye. Oh, what the hell. He kissed Marisa hard, a promise for later.

“I won’t be long,” she said.

• • •

Marisa walked her mother to the cottage door, but left the motor running.

“Do you love him,
mi hija
?”

“I don’t know what I feel for him, but it’s strong. Very strong. I wish I had more time with him.”

“If he is the one, do not let him go.”

“I held onto Kevin for eight years and look where that got me.”

“The right man only comes into your life once.”

“I’ve got to go, Mamá. I love you.” Marisa kissed her mother’s cheek.

“I love you too,
mi hija
. Do you forgive me for not telling you about your papa?”

“I’ll get used to the idea eventually. Just give me a little time.”

Her mother nodded and went inside the cottage. Marisa heard the lock click.

Marisa steered down the winding driveway. She was almost to the street when a blonde wraith appeared in her path, waving her arms. Marisa jammed on the brakes before she hit Scott’s secretary. Her heart pounded hard in her chest. Brooke knocked on the passenger window and Marisa lowered it a little.

“I need to talk to you. There’s something you need to know about Scott. Can I ride with you?” Her hair hung loose around her shoulders.

“What about Scott?” Had he murdered Carolyn? Was he behind the rash of accidents?

“We can’t talk here. Please let me in.”

Marisa unlocked the door and Brooke climbed in. The back door jerked open and Scott Wentworth slid into the car.

“Drive.” Brooke pointed a gun at Marisa.

Marisa stared at the gun Brooke held feeling stupid instead of terrified. Wasn’t Scott the villain?

“Drive,” Brooke said again, this time her voice deadly cold.

“Where?”

“Head north on Route 14 toward the wine country.”

That made as much sense as Brooke pointing a gun at her, but when Brooke cocked it, Marisa put the car in gear and turned onto the street. She noticed Scott had disappeared from view and Brooke held the gun low where outsiders couldn’t see it. So that’s why his mistress was in the car. But it still didn’t explain why she was the one holding the gun.

When Marisa reached Route 14, she glanced around. The harbor seemed deserted for the first time in her memory. She tried to think of some way to signal someone if she saw them. But any attention she brought to herself might get her and a potential rescuer shot. She wouldn’t be the cause of someone else getting hurt.

“Don’t try anything stupid,” Brooke said. “Just drive.”

So Marisa turned left onto 14. As she neared Salt Point Road, she thought about driving right up to Nick’s cabin so he could help. He was a trained rescuer. But he was also unarmed. He’d suffered enough lately. She loved him enough not to want to add to his grief or to see him hurt.

Her breath caught. She gripped the wheel as she passed his road. She loved him. Of course she did. She empathized with him and cared whether his life held joy and beauty. She wanted to show him every beautiful place on the planet if it meant he would smile again.

Nick was everything she’d thought Kevin was — caring, dedicated, concerned, humanitarian, loving — but Nick was the real thing. How could she help but love him?

She had to make it back to him so she could tell him she loved him. She needed to think of how to outsmart these two. “I bet you think you got away with pushing Carolyn in front of the train.”

“Shut up and drive,” Brooke said.

“Aren’t you afraid Scott’s going to push you in front of a train?”

Brooke laughed. It wasn’t a nice sound. “Scott and I have a partnership.”

“What, you take turns killing people?”

“Something like that. After I went through Easterling’s papers and found out you were his daughter, I knew you were a threat to Scott’s inheritance.”

Marisa jerked with surprise. Her father had documented her parentage? “So you wanted to prevent the DNA test? It’s too late. People know I’m Easterling’s daughter and next in line to inherit.”

“I’m going to share Scott’s wife’s money, not you. You’ve proven to be a lot of trouble to us and I’ve had to expend a lot of effort trying to get rid of you.”

Marisa felt battered by the shocks. “
You
were behind my accidents?”

Brooke’s smile was smug. “No one suspected me. It worked beautifully. Well, almost. I thought that other woman was you. You always walk across the estate without looking to see who’s following you. It was so perfect. People would think you drowned accidentally in the storm. I had a rude awakening when I found you at the door the next morning.”

“So poor Elizabeth Hernandez died for nothing.” Anger began to beat in her blood. Eddie was ravaged with guilt when the guilty party was right here in the car.

“I saw her at the window spying on us. Like I said, I thought it was you.”

“Scott will be the first person they accuse if anything happens to me.”

Brooke tsked. “You’re overwrought. Everyone knows it. What with losing your fiancé, your best friend — who turned out to be your sister — and your apartment, not to mention finding out your parents were lying frauds, you’re feeling pretty depressed. You’re going to take a page from your sister and kill yourself.”

Marisa tried to regulate her breathing. Her fingers ached from gripping the wheel. Her eyes ached from following the winding road in the dark after too many days with too little sleep.

“There’s a flaw in your plan,” Marisa said. “Deputy Nash doesn’t believe Carolyn killed herself. Neither does his friend Nick Stark. Neither does my mother. The deputy already looked into Scott’s business and found he needs cash. And he knows Scott lied about Carolyn seeing a shrink and taking antidepressants.”

“What?” Scott sat up in the back seat. “That plan was foolproof. No small-town deputy should have doubted me. Who’d ever even think I pushed my wife to her death. She was always so boy bony it took no effort at all to make her lose her balance. I just can’t believe I waited so long to do it.”

Rage burned hot through Marisa’s veins. Scott had killed Carolyn — her sister. He was a cold-blooded murderer. He had to pay for what he’d done. She wouldn’t let him get away with it. “You didn’t count on me.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Brooke said. “You’ll be out of the picture soon and we’ll go back to the city with all that lovely Easterling money.”

Lights pierced the night from the lakeside on Marisa’s right as she passed the sign for the Showboat Motel & Restaurant. Marisa remembered they had a deep-water dock. Then she knew what she had to do. These two were going to kill her. She wasn’t going to drive docilely to her death. She would make sure they paid for what they’d done to Carolyn and Elizabeth and her.

• • •

Marisa should have been here by now, Nick thought as he paced the cabin, his impatience an itch inside him he couldn’t scratch. Doubt crowded in. Unless she’d changed her mind. Maybe she’d had time to think about seeing Kevin at the wake and had decided she didn’t want to continue sleeping with Nick.

Had the sight of her ex-fiancé made her realize the shallowness of what she and Nick shared? Had she compared love to lust, and love won? If she could look into his heart, she’d see love there. If she’d just give him a chance, maybe she could love him like she’d loved her fiancé.

He looked out past the front porch again, but there was still no sign of her. He wanted this last night together, if that was all she’d give him.

Then it occurred to him that Marisa might not have changed her mind. Maybe she’d had car trouble — the man-made kind. God, he shouldn’t have let her out of his sight. He should have followed her home.

He had to risk calling her mother’s house, in case Marisa was there. But Anjelita told him Marisa had left there twenty minutes ago. The Easterling estate was only five minutes away by car. She should have been here by now. Something must have happened.

As he raced for his car, he called Brian on his cell phone. His friend answered on the first ring. “Marisa’s missing! I’m getting into my car now and tracing a path from my house to her mother’s.”

“I’m at the Easterling house now to interview Wentworth’s secretary. Nobody’s home.”

“Shit! He’s got her!” Nick shifted the car into drive, spitting gravel from under the tires, and shot down the road.