Wild Weekend (17 page)

17

“C
HRISTINE
.” J
ILL
HELD
out her hands as if she could slow down the thoughts racing through her head. “Let’s take a moment and really think about this.”

“What is there to think about?” She grabbed the emerald and held it in her fist, welcoming the hard edge that bit into her palm. “It was too good to be true.”

She had been stunned when Travis approached her in the casino. Thrilled but not willing to look too closely at her good fortune when she spent the weekend with him. But when he arrived in Cedar Valley, she couldn’t believe he felt the strong connection between them.

No one else believed it, either. Her friends and neighbors had to see Travis for themselves. Her ex was under the impression that she’d paid Travis to play her boyfriend. Darrell was half right. It had all been pretend to Travis.

“There could be a perfectly reasonable explanation for all this,” Jill said. “Just stop and think about it.”

“I already know what happened,” Christine said as she started to pace. There was a good explanation, but that didn’t mean it was going to make her feel any better. “His friend Aaron has an emerald that he was using as collateral in a high-stakes poker game in Vegas. It’s missing.”

“How did you wind up with it?” Jill asked. She looked down at Travis’s shirt. “Wait, did he keep the emerald in his shirt pocket? And you grabbed the shirt when you were packing. Okay, I got it now. I’m up to speed.”

Christine’s footsteps started to get faster. “Travis feels responsible for it because he should have kept an eye on it. The emerald winds up in my suitcase, and Travis shows up in my life. Coincidence? I don’t think so.”

“So he followed you thinking you stole the emerald. He didn’t show up here because he couldn’t live without you,” Jill said as she watched Christine go in circles. “But look at it this way. He could have called the cops. He could have confronted you the moment he got in town. He didn’t. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”

“It means he thought I was a criminal and he needed to do some surveillance before he pounced.” And she had opened up to him because she thought he was interested. That he cared.

“What are you going to do?” Jill asked. “Tell me your plan.”

Christine stopped. She felt jittery and her heart was pounding in her ears. Her mind was a jumble of emotions and instinct. “I don’t have a plan. I’m just going to confront him and go from there.”

“Seriously?” Jill said in a squawk. “That doesn’t sound like you. You always have a plan. You analyze everything before you make a move.”

Christine rolled her eyes. “When has that worked for me?”

“Okay, do you want my advice?”

She wordlessly looked at Jill.

“Keep the emerald.”

Christine gasped at her friend’s bold suggestion. “Tempting but no.” It wasn’t hers. It wasn’t even Travis’s. It belonged to someone who was desperately searching for it.

“Why not?” Jill complained. “Finders keepers.”

Christine opened her palm and looked at the emerald. It was dark green, like the trees in Cedar Valley. Beautiful and mysterious. And a reminder that she had not been enough to capture Travis’s attention. “I don’t want it.”

“Fine,” Jill said with a deep sigh. “You have to give it to him. It’s the right thing to do, I guess. And Travis returns it to his friend. Then what?”

Christine glanced out the window and saw Travis leaving the general store. His head was bent and his shoulders were hunched forward as the rain came down harder. “I don’t know,” she said. “He said he would come back and that he wants to be here with me. And I believed him.”

“But?” Jill prompted.

“But that was before I found out about this.” She held the bag out, then fisted it in her hand. “Before I realized that he had lied to me. That he had an ulterior motive to be with me.”

“Then don’t give him the emerald,” Jill said. “Hold on to it until he’s settled down here and can’t imagine life without you.”

“I’m not going to trap him here,” Christine said, indignant. And there was no guarantee that he would fall in love with her. “If I keep the emerald, then he goes back to Vegas to look for it. The longer he stays in Vegas, the less likely it is he’ll come back.”

“If you give him the emerald, he may not return.”

“That’s a risk I have to take.” She reached for the door and wrenched it open. “I have to give this to him, if only to find out the truth. Wish me luck.”

Her movements felt awkward as she left Jill’s. Dread twisted inside her and she found it difficult to take deep, even breaths. She wanted to believe Travis was falling for her and that he meant every word he said, but the emerald in her hand told her a different story.

She narrowed her eyes as the raindrops ran down her face. She wiped her cold skin and wished the coldness would seep into her bones and numb her. She didn’t want to feel like this. Hurt and uncertain. He was going to leave in a few minutes, but she wasn’t ready to take this risk. If he was here only because of the emerald, she would never see him again.

“Did you get everything you need?” she asked.

He lifted the plastic bag in his hand. “The selection is limited.”

“Yeah, you get used to that after a while.” But maybe he wouldn’t. Cedar Valley wasn’t enough for him. She wasn’t enough. Even if he really meant that he wanted to be here with her, there was no guarantee he would stay.

Travis looked up at the sky and winced as the rain pelted his face. “Are you sure you don’t want to come to Vegas with me? Think of the sunshine, the hot desert nights.”

She was surprised by his offer. Did he really want her with him, or was he hoping she could direct him to the emerald. “I don’t think I would be much use.”

“You would. Look at how we found the bracelet. We make a great team. You realized why Bonnie took it and acted on it.”

“Uh, that’s not exactly how it happened. Your sequence is all wrong,” she felt obligated to point out. “I did figure out why the bracelet was taken, and I also figured out why you really followed me home.”

He frowned. “Excuse me?”

Her heart was galloping in her chest and she was tempted to back down and remain quiet. She wanted to act as though she didn’t know anything, but she was tired of pretending. Christine tossed him the small bag that held the emerald and crossed her arms. “Care to explain?”

* * *

T
RAVIS
CAUGHT
THE
item out of reflex. He looked down and stared at the emerald. It took him a moment to recognize what was in his hand. And what it meant.

“You had this the whole time?” he asked roughly. He took a step back as the shock crashed through him. He’d made himself believe Christine had nothing to do with the missing jewel. He swore to Aaron that it wasn’t possible and begged him not to get the authorities involved. She had played him well.

“This is why you followed me to Cedar Valley, isn’t it?” Christine asked.

He glanced up and met her eyes. “I told you that I was looking for this.” His voice shook with anger. She’d acted as if she had no idea what he was talking about. She’d made it sound as if she didn’t believe his reasons for leaving town.

She placed her hands on her hips and glared at him. “I didn’t know that you suspected I had it.”

He pointed at the emerald in his hand. “And you did!” He felt betrayed. He thought Christine was a mix of heat and innocence. He didn’t think she had it in her to steal from him.

She took a step forward and pointed her finger at him. “No, I didn’t know I had it until just now,” she corrected coldly. “I had accidentally taken a shirt of yours, and Jill found it in my laundry. She suggested I keep it.”

Travis glanced at Jill’s store. He saw the redhead watching from the front window. If they had kept quiet, had kept the emerald... He blanched at the thought. “Why are you telling me now?”

“I wanted the truth more.”

“The truth?” He saw a movement from the corner of his eye. A few people had heard their raised voices and stepped outside to see what was going on. Christine didn’t seem to notice or care.

She hesitated and clenched her hands at her sides. It was as if she was preparing for an answer she didn’t want to hear. “Did you come here because you thought I stole the emerald?”

“Yes.” The word was dragged from his throat. He saw the hurt flash in her brown eyes and wished he could take it back. He couldn’t. It was the truth. “But I found out quickly that you didn’t know about it. I thought you were the only one who could have taken it, but the more I got to know you, the more I realized you couldn’t have done it.”

“If that’s the case, why did you stay?”

“I wanted to be with you, but I had to find the emerald.” Travis’s shoulders sagged. He knew he had to tell her the rest. “I was about to leave when Faye’s bracelet disappeared. Two valuables were gone when you were around...”

She tossed her hands in the air. “And despite everything you knew about me, you decided that I was some master jewel thief?”

“No,” he said as he noticed an elderly gentleman in a beige trench coat holding a bright yellow umbrella slowly walking past them, not even trying to hide his curiosity. “But you have to look at it from my point of view. I thought there was a pattern.”

“Why did you come up to me in the casino?” she asked. “Was it because of the emerald?”

He gritted his teeth. He didn’t want to tell her. It would taint the way she looked at their relationship. “I knew you didn’t have it then.”

“Travis,” she warned.

He sighed and raked his hands in his wet hair. “There were two men who were looking for the emerald. You noticed them at the nightclub,” he reminded her. “But they had been following my friend Aaron and me all night. He’d asked me to look after the emerald. They were at the casino when I met you.”

“Why did you drag me into it?” she asked.

“I needed to blend in. Make them think I was a tourist looking for a good time.”

Christine’s face paled. “So that’s why you offered to be my guide,” she whispered. “I thought it was strange that you offered your services for free.”

“Hey, I never pretended to be interested in you,” he said. “I was blown away when I first saw you walk into the casino. You can ask Aaron. He saw how my eyes bugged out and told me that you were way out of my league.”

She rolled her eyes. “Sure he did.”

“I enjoyed Vegas with you and if we didn’t have two guys following us, I would have considered that the perfect weekend,” he said. “I didn’t want it to end. Don’t you remember how I encouraged you to extend your vacation?”

“And what about the sex?” she said in a hard, cold tone. “Did you need a one-night stand to get away from those guys?”

“That night meant something to me, Christine.” His throat tightened as he choked back the hurt. “What we did that night had nothing to do with the emerald.”

“I’m not so sure about that.” She took a step back and looked away. “I can’t believe this is happening.”

“Christine.” He reached out for her.

She held up her hand to ward him off. “All this time I thought I had misled you. I felt guilty for pretending to be mysterious and sophisticated. But that wasn’t what interested you.”

“I knew you were pretending,” he admitted.

She pressed her lips together and nodded. “Of course you did. You knew how to read the signs because
you
were pretending with
me.
”

“Stop it,” he said. “I was with you because I wanted to be with you. The real you.”

“You weren’t interested in me,” Christine said. “You just wanted to know all about me because you thought I’d stolen your precious emerald.” She stared at him, unable to hide the hurt that shimmered from her eyes. “I shared everything with you. You shared nothing with me.”

“That’s not true.” He’d told her things he’d never admitted to anyone. She knew what drove him and what made him vulnerable.

“I used to feel half alive until I met you,” she said. She flattened her hand against her chest. “You made me believe that I was exciting and sexy. That you wanted me for me.”

“I do want you.” He wanted to be with Christine more than anything. He was willing to risk it all if it meant building a life with her. Now it was slipping away and he was scared. He didn’t know how to fix this, how to save what they had.

“You were fine sharing my bed while you were looking for the emerald,” she said, her voice echoing in the quiet street. “You had sex with me to pass the time.”

“That isn’t what happened.”

“Everyone knew something was off.” She slowly turned around and gestured at the people who were watching. “I thought so, too, at first. But I didn’t want to believe it. You knew what you were doing. You knew how to make me feel special and loved. You had that routine down pat.”

“It was not a routine.” That accusation cut like a jagged knife. “I care about you, Christine. More than this emerald.”

“I kept hearing from you that I needed to let go. Take risks.” She shifted her jaw to one side as she tried to contain the anger that rolled through her. “But I was the one taking the risks.”

“We both were taking risks.” He had been just as vulnerable as she was.

“I welcomed you into my life, into my bed,” she said, refusing to listen to him. “I risked my reputation, my future, for you. I followed your lead with Bonnie because I believed you had my best interest in mind.”

“You are my priority. You have been since I met you. All I want is to make you happy.”

She scoffed at his statement and started walking to her car. “I listened to all the advice you gave me and it actually changed the way I view the world. You’ll be very proud of me. Because I’m letting go. Of you.”

“I’m coming back and we will work this out,” he said as he followed her. He didn’t know if he could fix this. In the past, he just moved on when a relationship crashed and burned. But this was different. “As soon as I get this damn emerald to Aaron, I’m coming back to stay.”

She pulled her car door open. “Why?”

He spread his hands out. “I want to be with you.”