Wild Weekend (7 page)

He heard the buzz of his cell phone again and tilted his head.
It sounded like it was close to the door. He rose to his feet and stretched.
Looking around, Travis hoped to see if Christine had left a note. There was
nothing on the tables or the pillow.

No big deal. She was in a rush, he assured himself. Last night
still meant something to Christine. He knew it in the way she touched him, in
her sighs of delight and her gasps of pleasure. The way she clung to him as if
he was her rock, her shelter. It didn’t mean she had to keep clinging once
morning came.

It was probably better this way, he decided as he padded
barefoot to his pile of clothes by the door. If they had tried to continue, his
history would repeat itself. She would tire of his energy and his curiosity. He
would start feeling trapped. What they shared was based on mutual desire. It was
pure fantasy and that’s how he wanted to remember it.

Travis reached down for the pile of clothes. He pushed aside
his jeans and smiled when he saw Christine’s bra had somehow gotten tangled up
with the legs. He grabbed his jacket and retrieved his phone from the pocket.
“Hello?” he said, his voice husky from sleep.

“Travis?” Aaron’s loud voice pierced through his fog. “I’ve
been trying to reach you. Where have you been?”

“I was asleep. How did the game go?”

“I won big,” Aaron said triumphantly. “Was there any
doubt?”

“Never,” Travis lied. One of these days his friend was going to
lose badly. Maybe lose the emerald that symbolized his good fortune.

“You should have seen Hoffmann when I won. The guy tried to
cheat but he still lost. He really wants that emerald back.”

“And I can’t wait to get rid of this stone. Pitts and Underwood
followed us everywhere.”

“Us?” Aaron’s voice squeaked. “The hot chick has been with you
all this time?”

“Was there any doubt?” Travis teased as he went through the
jacket pocket looking for the emerald. He must have moved it to his shirt
pocket. “She just left for the airport. Where do you want to meet? We need to be
careful because I don’t think they’ve given up on the emerald just yet.”

“Don’t worry. I’ve been careful since I realized they searched
my room,” Aaron said. “I won’t let my guard down.”

“I can’t wait to see the state of my hotel room,” he muttered.
Travis froze as alarm shot through him while he stared at the pile of clothes.
Where was his shirt?

“How should I know?”

Travis winced. Did he say that out loud? “Sorry, just talking
to myself,” he said in a rush. “Let me call you back. I just got up.” He
disconnected the call before Aaron could reply.

Travis dropped to his knees and went through the pile of
clothes again. His shirt was gone. There was no emerald. Travis searched around
the floor. He spotted his wallet and quickly went through it. As far as he could
tell, nothing was touched.

He tossed his wallet back onto the floor and tried to breathe
as dread twisted inside him. This wasn’t happening. What had happened to the
emerald? Did Pitts and Underwood get it when they bumped into Christine? No,
that couldn’t have happened. He had checked and still had the emerald at the
time. So who took it?

Something silky and delicate slithered through his fingers. He
looked down with a frown as he saw the white bra in his hands.

Christine.

No. Travis immediately rejected that idea. Christine was a
sweet and shy small-town girl looking for a wild weekend. She was not a jewel
thief. She didn’t have it in her to be a criminal mastermind.

Or had it all been pretend?

He tossed the bra to the ground and jumped to his feet. He
needed to review the facts, Travis decided as he began to pace the small room.
He was the one who had approached her. He was the one who’d made the first
move.

And she was the one who took him to her hotel room and seduced
him.

Seduced him? Travis rolled his eyes in self-disgust. She did
more than that. She toyed with his emotions and made love to him. She knew what
he had secretly craved. Her gentleness. Her sweetness. He hadn’t considered that
it was fake.

She was good. She disarmed him. Stripped him bare. Played him
for a fool.

Travis strode to the window and pushed the curtains open. He
stared unseeingly at the Las Vegas Strip as he considered the possibilities. Did
she work with Pitts and Underwood? Or did she work alone?

All he knew was that Christine Pearson wasn’t real. If that was
even her real name. Anger burned inside him at the thought. Whoever she was, he
wasn’t going to let her get the best of him.

He was going to hunt her down, get back his friend’s lucky
charm and make her regret tangling with Travis Cain.

7

C
HRISTINE
WALKED
UP
to the front of her best friend’s store in the center of Cedar Valley. The warm yellow wood siding and colorful hanging flowers were a welcome sight in the face of the incoming rain clouds. It had been only one day and Christine already missed Las Vegas.

She wasn’t going to think about that, Christine decided as she carried the pile of clothes she had taken on vacation and walked to the dark green double doors. After visiting a place with the nickname Sin City, of course Cedar Valley would feel tiny and static. She needed to stop resisting the predictable rhythm of the town and accept it.

As she walked into Jill’s dry-cleaning store, she heard the high-pitched bell above the door. Christine paused as it reminded her of the bells from the slot machines and the stunned expression on Travis’s handsome face when she’d won.

Stop it,
she fiercely warned herself. She needed to quit thinking about the weekend and start moving forward.

A short and curvy woman with a curly mop of copper hair stepped into the room. “Christine!” Jill said with a shriek. “I didn’t expect to see you so soon. How was your trip?”

“Amazing,” she said with a proud smile as she set the pile of clothes on the counter. “I raced in a Ferrari, I jumped out of a building and I won money at a slot machine.”

Jill’s mouth dropped open and she held up her hand. “Back up. You jumped out of a building? That was on your dream list?”

“No, I hadn’t planned on the jump.”

Jill narrowed her eyes. “You mean you did it accidentally?”

“No!” she said with a laugh as she rested her arms on the old-fashioned counter. “They have this jump for tourists and I decided to do it.”

“Good for you!” Jill reached over and gave a pat on her arm. “You didn’t even stick to your list. You were just a wild woman, weren’t you?”

“I wouldn’t go that far.” If she had been a wild woman, she would have had sex with Travis on the first night.

Jill tilted her head as she studied Christine’s appearance. “There’s something different about you. Did you get some color from the sun?”

Christine ducked her head. “I don’t know. I haven’t noticed.”

“Oh, my God.” Her friend jerked back and pointed a finger at her. “You had sex!”

“What?” She took a step back from the counter and looked around to make sure no one else was in the store. “How did you know? Is there a love bite I missed?” She dragged her fingers down her neck. “How obvious is it? Can I get rid of it before I go to work?”

Jill crossed her arms as she studied Christine. “No, you’re good. There is no incriminating evidence on your body as far as I can tell.”

She dropped her hands. “Then how did you figure it out?”

“You seem more relaxed,” Jill said with a shrug. “So...how was it?”

Christine started to blush. “What happens in Vegas...”

“That good, huh?” Jill waggled her eyebrows. “Who was he? Did you get a name? Tell me you used protection. What does he look like? Where is he on the scale from one to ten? Ten, by the way, is a sex god.”

“His name was Travis Cain.” She hated how her voice caught when she said his name out loud. “He was incredibly hot and that’s all I’m saying.”

“Oh, come on,” Jill insisted. “You have to give me some details. How wild was it?”

It wasn’t wild. It was romantic and tender. Christine sighed. She couldn’t do a one-night stand correctly. No, she had to get emotionally attached to the guy.

“Huh. I know that look. You liked him. A lot.” Jill clucked her tongue. “Tell me you’re not going to try for the long-distance relationship. Those things never work and, knowing you, you’d do all the traveling to keep it going.”

That sounded like something she would do. Relationships and friendships had always been important to her. Too important. Unfortunately, she wasn’t always top priority to her loved ones. “No. Travis doesn’t stay in one place for long. He’s all about freedom.”

“Perfect,” Jill said. “The last thing you need to do is enter another relationship. When I think of all you gave up to be with Darrell...”

“Don’t worry, Jill. I learned my lesson.” She had recognized the pattern after Darrell had dumped her. She had put aside her goal to see the world and focused on the people in her life. It wasn’t just the men. It had also been her mother and some of her friends. She gave relationships her all but didn’t get back the support.

It had been different in Vegas. She had enjoyed Travis’s undivided attention, but it also made her uncomfortable. She was used to compromising, keeping quiet and letting someone else choose first. Travis wanted her to go after her interests with no apologies.

Did he do that hoping for a tumble in her bed? No, Christine decided. He would have given up on the first night. “This was a one-night stand,” Christine told her friend, “and I’m not asking for more.”

Jill pursed her lips as admiration danced in her eyes. “Ooh, look at you. So sophisticated.”

“And late for work. I need to get there before Mrs. Lamb drops by for her weekly visit to her safe-deposit box.” Christine groaned when she looked at the clock on the wall. “I feel like it’s going to take a while to recover from this weekend.”

“You’re going to be fine,” Jill said as she grabbed a basket and dumped the clothes in it. “I’ll let you know when your clothes are ready. Hey, how much money did you win?”

“Not even a thousand,” she admitted. Travis probably thought she was crazy to get excited over a few hundred bucks. He’ll never know that she was more excited about adding him to her dream list.

“At least it’s something,” Jill said. “You can use the money for another wild weekend.”

“Another one.” For some reason, she wasn’t excited about the idea. She hadn’t considered where she wanted to go next. What was stopping her from taking another trip to Vegas?

“Well, yeah. See what you accomplished when you didn’t have everyone in Cedar Valley looking over your shoulder?” Jill’s eyebrows rose, hiding under the coppery curls. “You’re not going to stop, are you?”

“Wouldn’t think of it,” she said as she left the store. Christine tried to ignore the pinch in her chest. Her Vegas weekend was a success because of Travis. She wouldn’t be able to recapture the magic anywhere else with anyone else.

* * *

T
RAVIS
SLOWED
HIS
motorcycle on the street and looked around with a growing sense of horror. There were more trees than people, no cars parked on the cobblestone street and it was so quiet that he could hear the birds sing. He saw the hand-painted sign welcoming him to Cedar Valley, but it felt as if he had entered a different era.

There was no way Christine Pearson lived here, Travis decided as he easily found a spot to park his motorcycle. She may have been raised here or even passed through. She was too young, too curious about life, to have stayed.

The town was smaller than he had expected. Travis chuckled. It wasn’t even a town. It was too small to be a village. He was surprised it was big enough to have earned a dot on the map.

He looked at the homes and businesses lined up on Main Street. This place once had money, a century or two ago. Now it was as quiet as a ghost town. But someone had to live here, considering how much effort had been expended to renovate the Victorian houses. They were well loved and freshly painted in colors that reminded him of Easter eggs.

This was an odd place for a jewel thief, Travis decided as he reluctantly got off his motorcycle and removed his helmet. Something about Cedar Valley made him tense, as if he knew he was going to make a false move. A mistake. He had traveled far and wide, from cosmopolitan cities to tribal lands. It took some time to learn the rituals and traditions, but here he had a very strong sense that he didn’t belong.

It was genteel. Small-town Americana. As he strode down the sidewalk, he noticed the antiques store and teahouse. A carriage house had been converted into a small bookstore. The quaint post office had a small red-and-blue mailbox bolted to the wall. The brown building up ahead was the general store and he saw the white church steeple on the hill, peeking out above the fat, leafy trees.

“Good morning!”

Travis frowned when he heard the young male voice. Great, it was one of
those
towns. The kind of place where everyone knew you, your family history and your secrets. He never did well in places like this.

He turned around and nodded his head in acknowledgment to the man coming out of the bookstore. The stranger was pushing a cart of paperbacks on the small stone path.

“Are you lost?”

Travis heard the territorial edge underneath the friendly question and gave the man a closer look. He was a clean-cut kind of guy with a blue dress shirt and khaki pants. Bland, forgettable and enjoyed being the big fish in a small pond. “This is Cedar Valley, right?” Travis asked.

“Yes, it is. Sorry.” His eyes narrowed with distaste at Travis’s disreputable appearance. Apparently Cedar Valley had a dress code. Leather jackets and faded jeans didn’t make the list. “Most of our visitors are older and come for our famous weekends.”

“Famous weekends?”

The man stretched his arms out. “Cedar Valley is the Pacific Northwest weekend destination. We have a popular farmers’ market and flower stand. The general store does a great picnic basket. If you’re looking for a place to stay, we have a bed-and-breakfast, but it’s always full on the weekends.”

He really was in hell. “I’m looking for Christine Pearson.”

“Christine?” The man thrust out his chin as if scenting trouble. Or competition. “How do you know her?”

“We’re friends,” Travis said, almost choking on the term. He had been infatuated with Christine, intrigued by her sweetness and innocence. And then she stole from him. He didn’t know if she had made the most of an unexpected opportunity or if she had targeted him from the beginning.

“I’m Darrell.” He watched Travis closely as they shook hands. The lines on Darrell’s forehead deepened. “What? She never told you about me?”

“No,” Travis replied brusquely and dropped Darrell’s hand. Christine had mentioned everyone else from Cedar Valley but this guy. That had to be significant. “Do you know where I can find her?”

“Oh, sure. Christine’s schedule never changes.” Darrell glanced at his watch. “She would be working at the bank.”

The bank? He should have guessed. It was a thief’s dream job. “Where can I find it?”

“Just stay on Main Street. The bank is the only brick building in town. If you pass the gazebo in the town’s square, you’ve gone too far.”

A gazebo. He should have known. This place was a freaking nightmare. Once he confronted Christine and got the emerald back, he was leaving like a bat out of hell.

* * *

A
T
EXACTLY
TEN
O
’
CLOCK
, Christine rose from her desk and left her glassed-in office. She walked out to the lobby of the Cedar Valley Bank. There were no customers and the two bank tellers were chatting with each other. Christine nodded at Harold, the old security guard, as Faye Lamb and her daughter, Bonnie, walked through the front door.

She could hear Faye and Bonnie bickering. Bonnie was in her late forties and always wore a baseball cap and colorful workout clothes. Faye was in her seventies and never left the house without her jewelry and makeup on. And, since the death of her husband, Faye wore only black. The mother and daughter were very different, but their love and affection for each other were apparent.

Christine had always felt she and Bonnie had something in common. Like Bonnie, Christine had put her life on hold when her father had left and her mother had been too grief-stricken to cope. Christine was glad her mother eventually found a second chance at love and left Cedar Valley to start a new life. She just wished she hadn’t focused so much on others and had done something for herself during those years.

“Christine!” Faye Lamb said as she shuffled across the lobby, her black heels clacking on the marble floor. “It’s good to see you. How was your vacation?”

She forgot that everyone knew she had been out of town. “It was wonderful,” Christine said with a warm smile as she greeted Faye with a gentle handshake. The older woman was fragile and wore heavy, sharp rings and bracelets.

“You won’t believe what happened,” Faye said with a smile. “My son is coming for a visit.”

“Really?” She barely remembered Todd, but she had heard the stories. He had a talent for finding trouble. She glanced at Bonnie for confirmation and the woman nodded. “Todd hasn’t been back home for ages. What’s the occasion?”

“He hasn’t said,” Bonnie informed Christine. “Knowing Todd, it’ll be a short visit.”

“It sounds as if you’ll want to break out the good jewelry,” Christine said.

“That’s what I was thinking,” Faye said as they slowly walked to the door that led to the safe-deposit boxes. “This calls for the pearls.”

Christine remembered the stunning pearl necklace and automatically reached up to brush her hand along the fake pearls she wore every day to work. She’d bought the necklace years ago so she would feel older and more sophisticated at the office.

“You know,” Faye said, “my dearly departed Stanley gave me the necklace when Todd was born.”

“I thought he gave you that bracelet to celebrate Todd’s birth.” Christine pointed at the thick gold chain bracelet that Faye always wore. The woman enjoyed changing her jewelry on a weekly basis, but the bracelet never left her wrist.

“No, no, no.” Faye waved her hand and the gold flashed warmly under the ceiling lights. “The bracelet was when we found out I was pregnant.”

“That’s right. Now I remember.” Christine liked this part of her job. She wanted to hear the stories about the family heirlooms or a person’s most valued possession. She wanted to see a customer’s eyes light up when they dreamed about retirement or the possibilities of their first home.

“It’s only right that I give both to Todd when he comes over,” Faye said softly.